On F List of Movie Reviews
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Fatal Instinct (1993)
Rate:
7
Viewed:
11/20
11/20:
Although not truly a laugh-out-loud film, Fatal Instinct is a clever neo-noir spoof that's in the same league
as The Cheap Detective and Murder by Death.
I recognize many, many movies that are referenced, and they're
Double Idemnity, Basic Instinct (hence, the
poster), The Postman Always Rings Twice,
Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear, Body Heat,
Sleeping with the Enemy, The Mambo Kings, and Fatal Attraction, among others.
What I appreciate a lot is the high level of subtlety. I mean, look at
Airplane! and countless other imitations
when the jokes are obvious and thus not funny. But in Fatal Instinct, it's been a nonstop run of cleverness.
Ironically, besides the near nonexistent plot, it's the film's fatal flaw: too much for me to take in one sitting.
As for the cast, I'm impressed with Armand Assante because I wasn't expecting this kind of performance from him. A veteran
of cult pictures, Sherilyn Fenn is at her usual best, and it's one of the last major productions for Sean Young who continues
to fall from grace which is too bad.
All in all, Fatal Instinct is better than most of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker crap.