drjude518 Review of Deception

Deception (1992)

Two Funerals But No Wedding or I Wish I Were In Vera Cruz

[5/10 · 14 February 2021]

The settings of this messy little thriller really are the main characters; if anything, the actors get to spend some time in some of the world's greatest travel venues. It starts with a faked death with clues on baseball cards; a clever plot twist I've never seen before. Man - any movie writer could have run with that one but they didn't. Don't know why. Lack of money perhaps? Wikipedia says the film only grossed 600,000 domestically. And it says they had to recut it with an additional 21 minutes before release on DVD. They could have done more with better writing. I'm not sure why they permitted Andie McDowell to revert to her native dialect when she is fully capable of doing a blander midwestern. Did they want to trash up her character a bit? The South Carolina drawl; it's so tiresome and so distracting. Liam Neeson bravely puts up with her. He is a class act; in the face of a bad script he does his part to imbue a stability that no one else can. Jack Thompson has a small role but would prefer to hide in the background -that's how sad the script is. Viggo Mortenson is gorgeous but is almost not there, so underused is he. A few interesting secondary characters; the Undertaker and the Coroner add a little plot development that goes nowhere. The owner of the chemical company that makes ink for ball point pens casts an interesting gaze on Bessie's bare legs as she exits his office. All of these moments could have been stretched a little to flesh it out. Look out for a nice little cameo by a lovely Tarantula spider under the desk in Vera Cruz. There is one scene that drove me crazy. "Bessie" emerges from the Berliner Bank after discovering that her not quite dead husband has closed the account, tears up the baseball card and throws it on the ground in a purely American I-don't-give-a- gesture. It really irked me. I think today that would get you arrested for littering. Clothing is used to signal her character's progression from baby obsessed haus frau to grown up competent business woman. Initially dressed in Earth Mother duds she acquires proper business attire and her perennial wild child hair is pulled back and tied up in a neat little knot. Andie's character is a real tough broad as it turns out. She salvages her husband's Aerospace Salvage business with a garage sale. All amazing little developments that could have been a springboard to wherever. Even the hotels become more upscale as the money pours in; from Vera Cruz to Egypt. All very interesting but where does it go? When she finally turns her back on her past after her curiosity is satisfied; it's all over. This film could have done so much better with a little more meat on the bone.