Attraction proves problematic if not fatal in “Pretty Thing.” Those who’ve missed the steaminess of the peak “erotic thriller” era as defined by “9 1/2 Weeks,” “Basic Instinct” and so forth may find some nostalgic pleasure in this slick if more modest enterprise, with Alicia Silverstone as a middle-aged businesswoman who picks up sexy younger Karl Glusman, only to find she’s acquired an obsessive stalker.
Director Justin Kelly (“I Am Michael,” “JT Leroy”) and actor-turned-writer Jack Donnelly do a decent job setting things up, soft-pedaling narrative clichés and delivering medium-grade, relatively un-corny sexiness in a handsome widescreen production. But the suspense mechanics never develop much momentum and despite solid performances, the script lacks sufficient depth to work as a serious character drama. So this “Thing” ends up being forgettable, that fate sealed by a weak fade-out. Nonetheless, it’s a diverting enough way to spend 90-odd minutes.
At some kind of reception in a high-end Manhattan hotel, guest Sophie (Silverstone) claps eyes on cater waiter Elliot (Glusman), creating immediate mutual frisson. Soon many other body parts are also in communication. Though the wide-eyed server’s admitting “I can’t say I’ve done anything like this before” casts him as awkward Benjamin Braddock stand-in to her assertive Mrs. Robinson, he’s apparently quite a natural. Such that she impulsively invites him to come along on a work trip to Paris, where he can see the sights when she’s busy in meetings. The rest of the time, natch, they are…um, busy with each other. It’s an exhilarating experience for Elliot, whose life to this point hasn’t strayed much beyond low-level odd jobs and the needs of his supportive but clingy invalid mother (Catherine Curtin), with whom he still lives.
When he subsequently insists on taking Sophie out as a thank-you, it’s written all over her bored face that his choice of entertainment, watering holes and friends are strictly amateur hour by her executive-class standards. As dynamic as their sexual chemistry is, they otherwise have virtually nothing in common. In any case, she isn’t looking for a relationship—she’s happily “married” to her career, devising marketing campaigns for multinational pharmaceutical companies. Once it becomes clear that smitten Elliot cannot accept theirs is just a passing fling, she sends him a polite albeit firm thanks-for-the-memories goodbye text.
He doesn’t take it well. At this midpoint, you might expect “Pretty Thing” to go down familiar paths of psychotic-jilted-lover vengeance. But no rabbits are boiled here, and Donnelly seems reluctant to embrace melodrama at the same time that he fails to provide the psychological detailing needed to elevate this story above stock genre expectations.
We can understand Sophie well enough in Silverstone’s expert performance: She is a woman with a healthy sexual appetite whose other needs are fulfilled on the professional plane, where she’s driven and authoritative. Whereas Elliot remains something of a cipher, a manchild whose amply displayed abs have more definition than his character. Glusman is perfectly fine, but the writing leaves this figure too much of a naif to seem threatening or to be credible when Elliot somehow circumvents Sophie’s protective barriers. (It’s never explained how he eventually keeps sneaking into her high-security apartment.) Rarely does dialogue do much to deepen our understanding of the dramatic personae, arising mostly in the heroine’s interactions with other women: Notably Tammy Blanchard in one scene as Sophie’s sister, and Britne Oldford in another as an acquaintance of Elliot’s that she consults for advice.
The stakes do rise, as reprisals between the two sex buddies turned combatants grow more antagonistic. Still, the film fails to build much tension, its pace remaining leisurely throughout. There’s a kernel of a grounding idea here, that as Sophie (who does some boxing training at a gym) becomes more physically violent in her rejection of an unwanted suitor, Elliot realizes he’s a nascent masochist enthralled by just such punitive treatment. But that is too poorly developed to carry much weight — let alone to hang an ending on. Indeed, the closing note here feels so misguided, it reduces the whole to the level of an over-extended anecdote, providing something more in the league of a punchline than any real resolution.
Until that letdown, however, “Pretty Thing” is reasonably enjoyable, and stylish within likely limited means. Matthew Klammer’s cinematography and the locations chosen convey the kind of elegance an Average Joe like Elliot might be wowed by, particularly in the early Parisian stretch. Tim Kvasnosky’s original score offers a wordless vocal element that carries an echo of posh 1960s European soundtracks. The sex scenes, too, display a mixture of passion and restraint (there’s virtually no nudity) that is more tasteful than luridly hubba-hubba.
Shout! Studios is releasing “Pretty Thing” to limited U.S. theaters and on demand platforms on July 4.
Source link