Dr. Nick ("Hi Everybody!") Cavanaugh (Julian Sands) is obsessed with the sexy but incredibly unlikable Helena (Sheryl Fenn) who he once had an affair with. When she pretty much rejects the guy, she ends up being hit by a truck. Does this deter him? No! It just means that he'll amputate her and keep her for himself.
Directed by David Lynch's daughter Jennifer, "Boxing Helena" is a movie that at first sounds like a perverse, strange little movie. Instead, it ends up being more of a mix of a pretentious art house movie and a dull 90's soft-core flick (complete with Enigma's song "Sadeness" playing during a sex scene.) Worst yet, the whole thing is a mess. The acting is atrocious, with Sands playing an unlikable, uninteresting, unsympathetic and spineless man, while Fenn plays a character so bitchy that you wonder why any man would want to be with her. Even Bill Paxton (someone I normally like) is unable to lift this up any, as he is also terrible (though that's more due to the terrible script.) At least his hair is outrageously bad, though it's no match for the one Art Garfunkle (yes, THAT Art Garfunkle) has. Add a terrible ending and obvious symbolism (a bird in a cage, how clever!) to the mix, and you get a terrible movie.
Little fact: While more is known about Kim Bassinger and the movie, what is less talked about is that Madonna was also offered to play Helena, but turned it down. When the star of "Swept Away", "The Next Best Thing" and "Shanghai Surprise" turns the movie down, you know you have a dud.
Directed by David Lynch's daughter Jennifer, "Boxing Helena" is a movie that at first sounds like a perverse, strange little movie. Instead, it ends up being more of a mix of a pretentious art house movie and a dull 90's soft-core flick (complete with Enigma's song "Sadeness" playing during a sex scene.) Worst yet, the whole thing is a mess. The acting is atrocious, with Sands playing an unlikable, uninteresting, unsympathetic and spineless man, while Fenn plays a character so bitchy that you wonder why any man would want to be with her. Even Bill Paxton (someone I normally like) is unable to lift this up any, as he is also terrible (though that's more due to the terrible script.) At least his hair is outrageously bad, though it's no match for the one Art Garfunkle (yes, THAT Art Garfunkle) has. Add a terrible ending and obvious symbolism (a bird in a cage, how clever!) to the mix, and you get a terrible movie.
Little fact: While more is known about Kim Bassinger and the movie, what is less talked about is that Madonna was also offered to play Helena, but turned it down. When the star of "Swept Away", "The Next Best Thing" and "Shanghai Surprise" turns the movie down, you know you have a dud.