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Final Analysis (1992)

Rate: 7
Viewed: 7/15

FinalA
7/15: Six years after being paired in No Mercy, Richard Gere and Kim Basinger decide to give it another go in Final Analysis for the last time.

Thanks to the strength of the story, the results are better this time. The only thing I'm surprised is the screenplay wasn't written by Joe Eszterhas because it seems to be right up his alley. Although I fail to be wowed by Gere's and Basinger's performances, they do enough to move the story along. Uma Thurman stars but is nothing more than eye candy.

By far the best performer, Eric Roberts plays an interesting character until his untimely death. The momentum sort of goes away with him afterwards. He would have been good in films noirs during the 40's. Keith David is used at the right time to interject energy in order to advance the plot, and Paul Guilfoyle is effective in bringing noir.

The story is interesting, but listening to Uma Thuman's character's talk, especially when she mentioned the gun acting as her "surrogate penis," is a dead giveaway because I'm familiar with Freud's theories. It's obvious she read the books ahead of time. Eventually, it, along with the dumbbell bar (I was like, "What is it doing there?"), would set up the intended plot device, making the rest of the way predictable just like Color of Night.

Worse is the need to top one scene after another in a dramatic cliffhanger manner. Paying homage to Vertigo, Final Analysis never seems to end in the last twenty minutes. All I can do is roll my eyes and further suspend my disbelief. As a result, director Phil Joanou loses me for good. The only advice he should have heeded is "less is more." By the way, the lighthouse is the Pigeon Point Lighthouse which is located fifty miles south of San Francisco.

All in all, Final Analysis is interesting, but it's ridiculous toward the end.