Malice is directed by Harold Becker and co-written by Aaron Sorkin and Scott Frank from a story by Jonas McCord. It stars Alec Baldwin, Nicole Kidman, Bill Pullman, Peter Gallagher, Bebe Neuwirth and Josef Sommer. Music is by Jerry Goldsmith and cinematography by Gordon Willis.
Andy (Pullman) and Tracy Safian (Kidman) take in a respectable Dr. Jed Hill (Baldwin) as a lodger thinking he ticks all the ace lodger boxes. However, he turns out to be far from ace and after having to perform emergency surgery on Tracy, the Safian's world gets turned upside down...
Malice is an old fashioned thriller, it has flaws and major implausibilities, but if taken on its own popcorn thriller terms it rounds out as a good night's entertainment. There's considerable thriller talent involved in the production, with Becker (Sea of Love), Frank (Dead Again), Sorkin (A Few Good Men), Kidman (Dead Calm) and Baldwin (The Hunt for Red October) all having been party to producing some quality genre offerings. It's loaded with betrayals and shifty shenanigans, and when the surprises come they are genuinely smart and worth the wait. But why the makers decided to tag in a pointless serial killer sub-plot is anyone's guess since it has no bearing on the otherwise well thought out story. Cast are on form, with Baldwin revelling in oily egomania and Pullman classical in gullible's travels mode.
You will wish it had a more thundering climax, even if it is actually a touch clever, and credibility is often stretched to breaking point, but Malice operates out of the upper echelons of 1990s thrillers and still remains entertaining today. 7/10
