I Do Movies Badly: Basic Instinct
In this episode, Jim discusses Paul Verhoeven’s Basic Instinct.
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I haven’t actually listened to this yet, but I’m glad someone else remembers National Lampoon’s Loaded Weapon.
I’m not going to say that Loaded Weapon 1 is an exemplary parody, but in the world of Seltzer-Friedberg, it’s definitely worth remembering if for nothing else giving us this exchange:
“Who are you?”
“Your worst nightmare.”
“No, my worst nightmare is me waking up with my penis cut off.”
“Okay…so I’m not your worst nightmare.”
It’s been a while since I saw this, but it doesn’t seem at all odd for cops to discuss a suspect’s likely defense, and then for said suspect to actually use that during an interrogation (although someone smart would insist on getting a lawyer and letting them do the talking).
I think endings change how we view the preceding material. In a pulpy mystery story the resolution is quite important, even if the writer arbitrarily chose a suspect when multiple candidates could have fit the evidence (I am thinking of Clue’s multiple endings, although that’s a comedy). If the opening scene made it too obvious who it was, that seems like a problem with direction rather than the script.
I think it’s a problem of both, though I’d imagine that my comment about the superficiality of the obviousness (the two women look different naked) is supposed to be explained away by suspension of disbelief, which is fair if it existed in a vacuum, but which I’m using as ammunition since I had additional complaints (obviously)