FINAL ANALYSIS sees director Phil Joanou outdoing Brian de Palma in his Hitchcock homages, for this is a Hitchcockian thriller through and through. It's the story of a psychiatrist who becomes involves with a beautiful blonde client, and along the way throws in various scenarios including a courtroom showdown and some high-rise peril too.
It's an extraordinarily derivative film, but it manages to be great fun with it, and that's what counts, after all. FINAL ANALYSIS has dated in the same way that most movies from the 1990s have; every scene is overblown and overstylised, and the characters act in hugely unbelievable ways. The writers never let realism or credibility get in the way of another plot twist or suspense-wracked set-piece.
Richard Gere is on autopilot here and rather bland with it: there's nothing much to like about his boring character, and he's played the same role (of a guy falling head over heels for a pretty girl) so many times that he seems bored. Kim Basinger is better, really getting her teeth into a different kind of role from the ones she usually plays, but the real stand-outs are the supporting players. Uma Thurman is edgy and burns up the screen, Keith David's broad comic relief really works, and Eric Roberts is incredibly sleazy and frightening as a controlling husband.
I was delighted to discover, as I watched, that I had no idea where the story was going. Plot twist developed upon plot twist and I was frequently surprised and shocked by many of them. Of course, it's not really anything that hasn't been done before - and better, too - but it's a nice piece of entertainment for thriller and suspense fans nonetheless.
It's an extraordinarily derivative film, but it manages to be great fun with it, and that's what counts, after all. FINAL ANALYSIS has dated in the same way that most movies from the 1990s have; every scene is overblown and overstylised, and the characters act in hugely unbelievable ways. The writers never let realism or credibility get in the way of another plot twist or suspense-wracked set-piece.
Richard Gere is on autopilot here and rather bland with it: there's nothing much to like about his boring character, and he's played the same role (of a guy falling head over heels for a pretty girl) so many times that he seems bored. Kim Basinger is better, really getting her teeth into a different kind of role from the ones she usually plays, but the real stand-outs are the supporting players. Uma Thurman is edgy and burns up the screen, Keith David's broad comic relief really works, and Eric Roberts is incredibly sleazy and frightening as a controlling husband.
I was delighted to discover, as I watched, that I had no idea where the story was going. Plot twist developed upon plot twist and I was frequently surprised and shocked by many of them. Of course, it's not really anything that hasn't been done before - and better, too - but it's a nice piece of entertainment for thriller and suspense fans nonetheless.