Masquerade (1988) User Reviews

The twist is that there is no twist

[JamesHitchcock · 7/10 · 29 August 2009]

"Masquerade" is a crime thriller set among the wealthy inhabitants of the Hamptons, a socially exclusive part of Long Island. The main character is Olivia Lawrence, a young heiress who has been left tremendously wealthy by the recent death of her mother. (Olivia's father has died several years earlier). Olivia forms a relationship with Tim Whalen, a yacht skipper, but this causes friction with her stepfather Tony Gateworth, who suspects that Tim is only interested in Olivia for her wealth. There may be something in his suspicions, as Tim is also carrying on with attractive older woman Brooke, his employer's wife. Gateworth's objections to Tim, however, seem hypocritical, as it is obvious that he only married Olivia's mother for her money and has lost no time since her death in moving his new mistress, Anne, into the family mansion.

The title is significant. "Masquerade" is the name of Olivia's yacht, but the word "masquerade", literally a masked ball, can also signify a charade or pretence, and several of the characters are pretending to be something they are not, pretences which are revealed in a series of twists. Tim and Gateworth seem to hate one another, but it is suddenly revealed that they are plotting together to murder Olivia for her money. During a confrontation between Gateworth, Tim and Olivia, however, Gateworth is killed when his pistol goes off during a struggle with Tim. Officer McGill, a local cop and former boyfriend of Olivia, is put in charge of the investigation into Gateworth's death.

There are no really outstanding acting performances in this film, but Meg Tilly makes a convincingly innocent Olivia, even though at 28 she was several years older than her character. Rob Lowe does enough to show that he was more than just a Brat Pack pretty-boy, even though he shows enough flesh to keep his most ardent female fans happy. (Tim is supposed to be older than Olivia, but in reality Lowe was four years younger than Tilly). There are certain similarities between this film and "Wild Things", a thriller from 1998, which also has a plot involving yachting and differences in social class. (That film, however, was set in Florida rather than Long Island). "Masquerade", however, is by far the better of the two films, and part of the reason, I think, lies in the way in which the thriller genre developed over the intervening ten years. Although the plot of "Masquerade" contains several twists (there are a couple more after those mentioned above), it always remains perfectly comprehensible. By 1998, however, there was a tendency (one which has continued into the twenty-first century) for the scriptwriters of films like these to demonstrate their cleverness by devising excessively complicated plots; that of "Wild Things" contains so many twists that it ends up twisted out of all recognition, and almost totally incomprehensible to the average viewer, even with the assistance of a series of flashbacks interspersed with the closing credits and intended to make good all the numerous plot holes in the actual movie.

Pauline Kael described "Masquerade" as a "tranquil and sophisticated thriller". "Tranquil" may seem an odd choice of adjective to describe a thriller, especially one in which several characters meet violent deaths, yet I know what she meant. "Masquerade" lacks not only the silly-cleverness that mars films like "Wild Things", it also lacks the cynical amorality that is their stock-in-trade. Towards the end I was waiting for some truly devastating silly-clever twist, like Olivia 's mother and Gateworth both coming back from the dead, or Olivia turning out to have planned the whole thing with her lesbian lover Brooke. Yet nothing like this happens. The twist is that there is no twist. There is no assumption that an obviously innocent person must be guilty; Olivia turns out to be just as sweet and naïve as she has always seemed. Moreover, Tim, whatever his original motives may have been, turns out to have genuinely fallen in love with her and selflessly sacrifices his own life while saving hers. It comes as quite a surprise to come across a thriller that does not take a completely cynical view of human nature. 7/10

Nice little Hamptons thriller

[n_r_koch · 7/10 · 3 July 2009]

I liked it. Setting and script are interesting, though not always especially original-- some of the plot twists seem to be thrown in because the story starts to lag. There is one fairly steamy sex scene between Lowe and Tilly, from the days when audiences liked sex scenes that didn't look like rape scenes.

As in so many films since the 1960s, the acting is so technically skilled and low-key it can fool an audience into thinking it's not acting at all...until they see the same actors playing totally different roles in other movies. Tilly is just superb; you don't see her at all, you just see the shy heiress. Even pretty-boy Lowe is believable in an absurd role that must have been hard to play (among other things, in his opening love scene, he hides the family jewels behind a door with a slick little move). Cattrall, in a small part, is excellent-- her sloppy character just seems to have turned up. And Glover (with messed-up Caesar hairdo) is his usual effectively spooky self as the villain. Delaney doesn't have a lot to do but she's loose and convincing whenever she's on.

You can tell this one was written for the screen by the name the writer chose for the heiress: "Olivia Lawrence".

Nice try at old-style Hitchcockian mystery

[mnpollio · 6/10 · 19 April 2011]

If Masquerade had been filmed about 30 years earlier, it would have been directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starred Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. The storyline is very Hitchcock. Enchanting heiress Meg Tilly is never really sure who truly loves her and who is after her money. Surely her drunken, salacious stepfather John Glover and his trampy mistress Dana Delaney fall into the latter category. The current lawman Doug Savant seems to be carrying a torch for her, but Tilly is soon all eyes for local gigolo Rob Lowe, who dumps rich married Kim Cattrall and sweeps Tilly off of her feet into a whirlwind romance and marriage. And then Tilly starts having near misses on her life.

Although the film fails to reach its full potential, there is a lot to recommend it, particularly for fans of the genre. The beautiful Hamptons scenery and the foray into the lifestyles of the rich and famous chief among them. The screenplay is well thought out and, starting from the two-thirds mark, twists and turns all over the place, but without losing its credibility. While Bob Swaim's direction is sometimes flaccid and allows the pace to slacken a bit too often, it usually regains its composure within a reasonable timeframe.

Glover and Delaney have a blast in their roles. And there is strong support from Savant as the local lawman with a fancy of his own for Tilly. Cattrall has a largely thankless task - she gets to doff her duds and engage in sex scenes with Lowe to establish his credentials as a gigolo - but her character ends up being excess baggage with not even a tenuous relation to the main plot.

The leads are a mixed bag. Tilly is quite wonderful as the heiress. She nicely walks the line between naivete and savvy - never making her heroine too suspicious, but not making her a pushover either. We believe her that she is in love with Lowe and we believe that she has the smarts to navigate her way through the various treacheries that litter her life. It is a rock solid performance and it is a shame that she is no longer acting. By contrast, Lowe is no Cary Grant. I have nothing against Lowe, but he performs much better in support or an ensemble cast than when called upon to lead the way. He is an attractive, amiable, but not especially charismatic leading man. As eye candy that would attract both Tilly and Cattrall, Lowe is semi-believable and contributes a couple of welcome nude scenes. However, when he needs to communicate some of the mystery of the man in question, his performance falters. The screenplay really needs us to wonder whether this guy really loves Tilly or may be trying to murder her - and we do wonder. Unfortunately, we wonder because the screenplay prompts us and because Lowe is often so vacuous in important moments that it is impossible to tell what, if anything, he is feeling. By the time the film concludes and provides us with our answer, we realize that Lowe's performance has laid no groundwork for the denouement. His acting here provides such limited impact/emotion that we have nothing invested in his character outside of what his plans for Tilly may be. Savant's supporting character actually ends up being more intriguing and better acted than the lead. This is truly a case where the film would have benefited from a stronger actor in the lead role.

That said, fans of the genre will still find much to enjoy and admire here.

Haunts Of The Very Rich

[Lechuguilla · 7 July 2009]

The film gets its title from the name of a yacht owned by a wealthy heiress, an attractive young woman just out of school, named Olivia (Meg Tilly). Olivia is a tad starry-eyed, wistful, and overly trusting. She owns eight houses and lives in the Hamptons, on Long Island. "Masquerade" is her story, and it involves romance, betrayal, and death.

Into Olivia's life comes a good-looking, but not wealthy, skipper of a racing boat, a young man named Tim (Rob Lowe). Olivia falls in love with Tim. But is Tim really in love with her, or just after her money?

The film's setup is both slightly misleading and a little slow to develop. But a major plot point at the end of the first Act perks up interest. And from here, "Masquerade" becomes a generally enjoyable thriller, until near the end. The plot climax does seem contrived. A simple phone call could have achieved one character's desired result. Instead, that character takes matters into his or her own hands. The result is an unnecessarily dramatic outcome.

The casting of Meg Tilly is perfect for the role of Olivia. Everyone else in the cast is at least adequate.

Color cinematography in outdoor scenes is quite good, especially those scenes filmed on the open waters off the coast of Long Island. Indoor sets are okay. Background music is boringly nondescript.

My only major complaint pertains to the film's dated thematic style. Many scenes in "Masquerade" show lush mansions, manicured lawns, expensive sports cars, and haughty parties where women wear expensive gowns and dance with wealthy men to the ballroom music of a live orchestra. All of which is well executed. But some of these visuals are awfully reminiscent of other 1980s productions like "Dallas" and "Dynasty", which make "Masquerade" look stuck in the 1980s.

This film offers entertainment in the form of interesting characters, more than one of whom "masquerade" as something they're not, and a twisty, betrayal driven plot that leads to an outcome that the viewer probably will not be able to predict.

Trust & Betrayal

[Mister_Gordon_Shumway · 7/10 · 4 December 2007]

A handsome gigolo (Rob Lowe) charms his way into the life of a beautiful young woman, heiress to a multi-million dollar fortune. After the loss of her mother, she lives with her selfish and domineering stepfather, a ruthless cad intent on controlling both his stepdaughter's inheritance and her relationships. The local police officer also shows emotional interest in the heiress, having known her since childhood. But who can she really trust?

'Masquerade' was filmed around the time of 'Bad Influence' and Rob Lowe's scandal --- a sometimes underrated actor who, for a while, was typecast as the bad boy (see 'Waynes World', 'Tommy Boy' and 'Austin Powers'). Lowe has nevertheless proved his versatility as an actor with leading roles in films such as Stephen King's 'The Stand' (a deaf mute), Frank and Jesse (as Jesse James) and Stephen King's 'Salems Lot' (2005). He adopts the role of deceptive gigolo with veritable ease, appearing simultaneously charming and devious. It is the script that inevitably lets the film down.

In short it is a dark and moody thriller, which focuses on the themes of money and greed, trust and betrayal. It is reasonably-paced and contains a multitude of twists and turns, though could be a bit more lively in places. Furthermore, it boasts a talented supporting cast that includes Meg Tilly, Doug Savant, John Glover and Kim Cattrall.

Matthew J Lee-Williams, Review.

Labyrinthine plot, slightly smutty.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 25 November 2007]

Money, mayhem, and sex. How can you go wrong? Meg Tilly, unglamorized, is a naive teen-aged graduate of a Catholic school. She makes her other-worldly way back to her REALLY dysfunctional, rambling mansion in Easthampton, where her villainous stepfather (John Glover, hammy but great!) is staggering around, usually three sheets to the wind, and entertaining his girl friend, Dana Delaney (Miss Briscoe, Lenny's sister-in-law). The script has given Tilly's mother the deep six before the movie starts.

Also present, the multi-talented Rob Lowe who, were he any worse an actor, could sink this vessel faster than a horde of mutant torpedo worms. As it is, he's a "superb captain", as someone calls him. His job seems to be skippering the racing sloops of very rich people so skillfully that they beat the racing sloops of other very rich people.

Lowe has assignations with the slutty Kim Cattrall, somebody else's wife. Very racy dialog. Lowe gives Cattrall a birthday present, a pair of skimpy black panties. Cattrall: "You want me to wear these?" Lowe: "I can't bite them off you if you don't." Avast there. Here comes a spoiler that may take the wind out of your sails. Lowe is not what he seems. Actually, he's in cahoots with Tilly's step-father and the town cop. The three of them decide that Meg Tilly's several hundreds of millions of dollars is too burdensome for one young woman, so they are going to have Lowe seduce her, marry her, and eliminate her -- in that order -- so that they can split up her assets three ways.

The plan goes awry. Lowe begins to feel affectionate towards Tilly, especially after they are as married as matched pelican hooks and she becomes pregnant. He shoots and kills Glover. Dana Delaney, Glover's squeeze, gets suspicious and is found hanging by a belt. The corrupt cop notices these little incidents and tries to blow up Tilly by tinkering with the gas line aboard her sloop, the Obsession. In a frantic attempt to save Tilly, Lowe is hoist by the cop's petard. In the cop's office, Tilly comes to grasp nature of the plan by an act of spiritually inspired intuition, just from glimpsing a photo of the three conspirators pinned to the cop's wall. (An old snapshot of three smiling men holding up a fish, and she twigs.) The cop attacks her with a marlinspike or something and tries to stove in her head. And he's a big, burly guy too. But those nuns turn out tough little babes and he can't do more than rip her shirt a bit before she propels him through the window to his death below.

John Williams' lush score practically swoons at the end as Tilly stands bravely alone, knowing that Lowe, though now in Davey Jones' locker, REALLY loved her. This ending prompts a question, though. She now has all those millions and that huge beachfront mansion to herself now, doesn't she? So what is her phone number? And does she like redheads?

Not much acting is really required in a piece like this. But John Glover is sublime as the villain. He always is. Rob Lowe, blandly handsome, like a department store mannequin, should be relieved of his watch and sent below. Meg Tilly is more complicated. She has a voice that's at once diminutive and husky. She seems to have been given a minimum of makeup, so her blemishes and pimples show on her pale face and shoulders. And that haircut! Blackbeard the Pirate looked more glamorous, even with the smoking gunpowder fuzes tied in his tresses. I suppose many eyes seem to tilt from inner canthus upward, but Tilly's are alarming. Her father was Chinese, and she herself has been a dancer and now an author, so she gets my vote.

Kim Cattrall is a snoot but has some of the best lines. "While you were plugging your stepfather, your husband was plugging me -- and he was great!" Well, it's not really a dirty movie though. Two scenes of Cattrall topless and one of simulated sex between Lowe and Tilly. Oh, and a shot of Lowe's buns, which reminded me that on a ship you should always spit to leeward.

There's another thing. I don't know if I should bother mentioning it because I'm not sure it's there, although there's a place for it in the plot. Still, I want to stay in the channel here. Red, right, returning, y'know. There's a bit of a homoerotic element in the relationship between Lowe and the conspiratorial cop. Lowe visits the cop at home. The cop is in bed and gets out to have a serious engagement with Lowe. He's all muscles, his head included, and he's wearing only a pair of skivvies, and when he threatens Lowe, he thrusts his face almost against Lowe's, takes Lowe's cheeks and squeezes them together so that Lowe's lips are pursed, and I'm thinking two more inches and this is a gay scene.

This romantic thriller isn't for everyone's tastes, I would guess, but I kind of enjoyed it, partly because I like the Hamptons and spent a lot of summers there as a youth. Well -- Sag Harbor, actually, in the modest house of some friends, acquired years before the area became uninhabitable for anyone except cosmetic surgeons, when the community was so compact and unprepossesing that, in a sandy wood just past the edge of town, you could sit and watch the foxes stare back at you, sometimes scratching their pointed black ears with their tiny and precise black paws. Red foxes. Auburn foxes. Unquestionably extinguished by development. Now we have this movie about people fighting over hundreds of millions of dollars, none of whom has had a selfless thought in their entire lives.

Good Plot line

[lpersons-2 · 7/10 · 17 September 2007]

This was an interesting movie and interesting plot twists. I enjoyed Meg Tilly and Rob Lowe, and thought they both added much to the movie. Movies of this time period are pretty much over acted, and seem boring but this one was one that fun to watch and try to figure out what was going to happen next. I have to say I am usually pretty good at seeing plot twists, but I never saw these coming. I enjoyed the scenery and enjoyed the large sail boats and the opening scene with the sail boat race. I found myself looking at the styles of the ladies clothing and hairdos and was enjoying a look back at the styles of twenty years ago and remembering them.

An adequate thriller.

[gridoon · 7/10 · 10 March 2002]

Adequate mystery with lots of twists and turns...TOO many twists and turns, perhaps. Like some other mystery movies, this has a convoluted story that seems, after a certain point, to be adding complications for complications' sake, regardless of how far-fetched they may be. But it's a slick, handsome production, well-acted and fairly erotic, too. (**1/2)

It ain't nothing but a big old trashy soap opera.

[mark.waltz · 2/10 · 30 March 2022]

Take the worst of the daytime and primetime sudsers, and roll them into one, and you've got "Masquerade", so silly and sordid and delightful that it has to be seen to be believed. Meg Tilly needed a more flowery, fragile name than Olivia, because she's so naive and gullible that her doctor should do a brain scan and then send her to a psychiatrist to see if she is actually mentally her physical age. She falls for the first handsome man who comes her way, and in this case, it's the gold digging Rob Lowe who appears to be in a scheme with her evil stepfather John Glover to steal her fortune and possibly kill her. Local cop Doug Savant is like her big brother and protector, warning her that Lowe's been fooling around with the easy and sleazy Kim Cattrall, and that's after an incident concerning a visit from the drunken step-dad who shouldn't even be there anyway because Tilly's mom is long dead. All she has for real family is aunt Maeve McGuire (irronically a veteran of practically every New York-based soap opera), but what she really needs is a legal guardian to erase all these hangers-on who seem to be living off the estate.

Having more twists and turns and bad plot within 90 minutes than "Dynasty" did in eight seasons, this is a car crash that not only goes over the cliff and explodes but sends a bunch of clowns rushing out from it afterwards. These characters for the most part are ridiculous cliches, and every twist gets more eye-rolling every time they occur. There are supposed fake murders, alleged attempts on her life, and she even adds her fingerprints to a weapon to make her seem guilty of a killing in self-defense. Everyone is playing their roles very seriously, but there seems to be at times a wink to the audience that they know what day are doing is ridiculous.

This came as the nighttime soap craze was winding down, and it's not quite even in the line of sexual thrillers like "Body Heat" and "Fatal Attraction" before and "Basic Instinct" and "Body of Evidence" afterwards. Glover wins quodos for his audaciousness, and Lowe gets a literally greasy scene as stark as the day he was born. The music by John Barry sounds like it was written for one of those lush Cinemascope 20th Century Fox movies from 30 years before. Never since "Peyton Place", "A Summer Place" and all those Ross Hunter places has there been something so deliciously melodramatic to laugh at, and with plenty of nudity thrown in and some pretty disgusting characters, it's a must-see for lovers of trashy cinema.

Effective Scenes Mixed With Chaotic Plot.

[jehaccess6 · 6/10 · 3 October 2008]

I liked a lot of this film. The yachting scenes and the wonderful score by John Barry really added to the film. Sometimes I seemed to be watching 'Thunderball', the score of 'Masquerade' was so obviously from the same composer.

I really liked Meg Tilly, whom I had never heard of before this film. She was the perfect choice for the role of Olivia, the less-than-stunning heiress swept away by the gorgeous sailor Tim ( Rob Lowe). I never realized Meg is 4 years older than Rob until I consulted their entries in the IMDb. Here she plays a naive heiress several years younger than her love interest very convincingly.

The film alludes to the death of Olivia's mother in an explosion on her yacht. Since this death would greatly benefit Gateworth, he likely had a hand in it. Cop Mike mentions how many propane explosions occur each year, so this hints that he engineered this 'accident'. However this point is never cleared up in the film.

Rob Lowe and Meg Tilly really had chemistry together. Olivia had sort of drifted through her life in a fog because facing reality was too painful. Tim really cut through her defenses and awakened her to the joys of true love. Olivia immediately became pregnant and was overjoyed to have a child with her new love. Olivia's life became a joy instead of a long nightmare.

What kept getting in the way was the idiotic plot. Apparently the cop Mike had worked the sailboat racing circuit before joining the police force in Hampton Shores. He met Tim and Olivia's stepfather Gateworth and hatched a scheme to murder Olivia and loot her estate.

I could never figure out where the two outsiders expected to share in the loot from the estate. If Olivia died childless and unmarried, Gateworth stood to inherit the entire estate as the sole surviving heir. Why was accomplice Tim supposed to marry Olivia and muddy the chances of inheriting the estate? If Gateworth did in fact inherit the whole estate, why would he have shared the proceeds with his two accomplices? If these two suddenly became rich after the estate was settled, it would increase suspicion of foul play. Gateworth would already be under suspicion as the person to profit most from the untimely death of Olivia.

The cop Mike should have deduced that he would wind up dead after contributing to the death of Olivia. His knowledge of the circumstances of Olivia's death would always be a threat to Gateworth. Tim would also be a threat to the continued enjoyment of Gateworth's new riches. After the marriage of Tim and Olivia and the death of Gateworth, Mike would have no claim on the estate. He would have to blackmail Tim with planted evidence that Tim had murdered Gateworth's girlfriend to shut her up. If evidence of Tim's guilt suddenly appeared long after the girlfriend's death, questions about why evidence had been withheld would arise.

Tim's mistress Brooke Morrison, wife of his employer, was blackmailed into providing an alibi for Tim when Gateworth wound up dead in Olivia's bedroom. Brooke testified to the police that Tim had been in her bed when Gateworth was shot in Olivia's bedroom. The film fails to consider the problem Tim would have appearing in Brooke's bedroom fresh from his recent love scene with Olivia. To put it delicately, Brooke's nose would have to be numb not to detect the scents of recent lovemaking on her boy-toy Tim.

Strangely Brooke's husband never found out what his wife had been up to or else didn't care. He continued to employ Tim on his racing boat and sought his services in future racing events.

The film finale killed off almost everyone to tie off the plot threads. I could never understand how rogue cop Mike could hope to murder Olivia right under the nose of the Chief Of Police and escape the consequences.

It seemed that the writers ran out of ideas on how to write the climax. I suppose the viewer was supposed to just be swept along with the flow and not think too hard about the logic of the plot.

Too overwrought

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 10 October 2014]

Tim Whalen (Rob Lowe) is a yachting stud having an affair with his boss's wife Brooke (Kim Cattrall). They live in the upscale town of Southampton, Long Island. Olivia Lawrence (Meg Tilly) is a young heiress after her mother's death. She returns home after college and gets involved with Tim. She is forced to live with her alcoholic gambling debt-ridden stepfather Tony Gateworth (John Glover), and his girlfriend Anne Briscoe (Dana Delany). On the surface, Tim and Tony don't get along but they actually have a scheme to kill Olivia. Tim starts to have cold feet but Tony threatens him. In the planned break-in, Tim kills Tony and Olivia insists on taking the blame as self-defense. Her love-lore friend Officer Mike McGill (Doug Savant) turns a blind eye to incriminating evidence.

It's a twisty murder scheme conspiracy. The movie suffers as one thinks about it too much. It's highly questionable why Tim does any of it. How could he ever guarantee he'd be paid in the original plan? I buy into Meg Tilly's cluelessness. She's probably the only one that makes sense. The various wills and legality need to be better explained. Also the schemes seem to be so many excuses to advance the plot. My biggest problem is that the movie tries too hard to overload the overwrought melodrama. It becomes too cloying and tiresome. And that music just won't stop.

Suspenseful and Sad.

[carmenv · 10/10 · 30 September 1999]

This is an excellent film if you love character acting, where the story centers just as much around the supporting characters as the main characters in the plot.The story centers around a young girl who becomes an heiress after the death of her mother, her only close relative. She meets & falls in love with a sailor with some very dark secrets. Their love affair upsets just about everyone they know, and when they look towards marriage everyone is opposed, mainly because they think he is only after her money-$300 million.The only person in the way of her inheritance and ruining her life, her step-father, is taken out of the picture, and that's when the truth begins to come to light. Rob Lowe is the sailor that Meg Tilly falls for. This is a very underrated film, and all the performances are excellent.The ending is sad, so don't say I didn't warn you. You might even need a box of tissues handy. Get ready for an interesting and thought-provoking film.I searched for this film for years before I found it in a video store, so you might have to do the same. Believe me, when I found it, it was well worth the wait.

Aspires to be a 1980s Hitchcock rejuvenation

[fredrikgunerius · 6/10 · 25 October 2023]

Masquerade is a psychological thriller which aspires to be a 1980s Hitchcock rejuvenation, and thanks to nice pacing and delicate acting, it largely succeeds for two thirds of a movie. The writers, Larry Brody and Dick Wolf, combine a knack for the clever with an inclination for the soapy, but fine direction by Bob Swaim keeps it together. At times, the film is confidently elegant, almost timeless, set in the idyllic Hamptons on Long Island and shot in a colour palette which almost convinces us of its Hitchcockesque affinity. Much of the trick is the combination of raw beauty and talent in the lead roles. Compared to today's over-glossed, photoshopped young stars, it's a delight to see Meg Tilly and Kim Cattrall stripped to the bone (both literally and metaphorically). Tilly revels in her role as the naïve, dreaming Olivia. By her side, a stunningly good-looking Rob Lowe is all right for the part - veiling his performance as the title suggests.

While Masquerade may have resembled something from Hitchcock's hand for an hour or so, the final part is more like something out of Dynasty. Whether it was the 1980s disease or just bad judgment, the writers go over the top with plot twists, and we start thinking about logic instead of being seduced by the initial playfulness. The final climax, which is particularly stupid, was arguably the main reason for the many bad reviews this film received, but if you're willing to ignore that, Masquerade is as enjoyable and perceptive as any film in the psy-thriller genre.

Intriguing, if shallow modern-day noir...

[moonspinner55 · 5/10 · 7 May 2016]

Rob Lowe is well-cast as a yacht-racing captain/gigolo on the East coast conspiring with a sniveling con-man to get rid of a sheltered heiress worth millions; however, the role isn't even one-layer deep, not requiring much from the actor, who is photographed in a series of dreamy movie magazine close-ups. "Masquerade", an 'original' from screenwriter Dick Wolf, plays like an elongated novella: a gauzy, posh potboiler rather than the Hitchcockian murder-mystery it would like to be. Meg Tilly does fine in an illogical role, John Glover once again works wonders as the proverbial hissable villain, but the other performances fall short. The movie, too, for all its mechanical twists that attempt to ratchet up the suspense, slides quickly from the mind, almost before it's finished. ** from ****

Very Dick Wolf... A long, sexy episode of L&O.

[jengod-2 · 7 January 2002]

Okay, could Rob Lowe be more naked in more movies? That said, this isn't bad it all. It's very Dick Wolf in the incredible number of switchbacks the storyline endures, but essentially compelling and capable of retaining surprise. The end is ham-handed at best, and Jennifer Tilly is essentially a cardboard cut-out good girl with her little lace collars. Both Rob Lowe and Doug Savant are competent and almost complicated as prominent figures in the heiress' life. Rob Lowe is perfect for the role, although the director doesn't make the most of either his complexity or his simplicity, whichever way you choose to see it. Doug Savant is especially sharp, but his character's emotional motivation is never clear and the extent of his involvement remains murky. (For example, did the mother die accidentally or on purpose?)

It may have been the basis for some movies

[jordondave-28085 · 6/10 · 8 May 2023]

(1988) Masquerade DRAMA THRILLER

"Masquerade" is a name of a boat that's intended for sail racing owned by wealthy heiress Olivia (Meg Tilly). The film appeared to look like an erotic drama but succumbs to becoming an unsuspenseful thriller centering on yuppie looking, Tim Whalen played by Rob Lowe hired to live with a wealthy extravagant couple in the Hamptons to lead a sail racing boat. He's then gets attached to Olivia who's inherited a substantial fortune from her mother, while living with her stepfather who's already gotten a girlfriend played by Dana Delany. By looking at the big picture, this film may have been the basis for other films that followed particularly 1998 "Wild Things" since they're some unexpected twists along the way, and 1992 "Basic Instinct" because of the approach to some erotic scenes as well as the musical score. It's basically a little mystery thriller movie with almost zero suspense, that could've been another Hitchcock's Suspicion or The Lady From Shanghai. What we get instead is a dramatized drama soap opera with splashes of some erotic scenes which doesn't offer any new surprises even though it does have it's moments which can keep viewers interested until the end without any care. And Rob Lowe is too shallow for this role to be taken seriously.

What is love?

[kosmasp · 6/10 · 27 December 2023]

Baby don't hurt me .. don't hurt me ... no more ... well no pun intended as always of course. And no this has nothing to do with the song by Haddaway, but it seemed fitting to use some of the lyrics. The movie itself is quite predictable overall. Though I am not sure how many will guess everything right - I reckon I have seen quite a few of those to be able to guess certain things.

The thrill is quite well done. Acting is nice and if you are a fan of some of the actors ... well you do not need any convincing anyway. Still the end feels a bit rushed and maybe you do not feel .. well satisfied overall. Good or bad ... the movie suggests people can change ... now who do you root for and will that help them? Exactly ... just be aware of what you are watching (b-thriller and all that)

A Raw Blow movie

[Tracy_Terry_Moore · 6/10 · 11 November 2008]

A fortune-hunter meets a rich chick whom he wants to swindle but falls in love with her instead.

Rob Lowe is extremely handsome in this familiar but OK retelling of love and deceit with Meg Tilly as Rob's romantic interest and John Glover as Meg's repellent father-in-law.

The film has a nice look to it, but unfortunately, some of the supporting actors suck. It's hard to make a story like this particularly interesting when its been done so many times, but Rob and Meg keep it afloat and the eastern shore is very pretty.

For the girls in the audience: Rob shows his butt again.

Watchable but unrealistic

[cinephyler · 6/10 · 6 June 2017]

Moderately twisty 80s movie is an easy watch, but it's a little bit hard to believe that in this posh community which has probably never had a murder, over the course of a few days:

* rich loner's vile step-dad murdered

* rich loner's vile step-dad's vile girlfriend murdered

* rich loner's newlywed con-man husband murdered

* rich loner's high school con-man boyfriend murdered

all under suspicious circumstances without witnesses, and no one seems to suspect said rich loner. nor do they even mind or care or notice this murder streak. people just keep partying.

i wish there was more suspense or peril or consequence. i thought she was going to be the cunning genius in the end, but no, she was still the innocent ingenue.

sleeze at its best

[sandcrab277 · 1/10 · 15 April 2018]

The three male leads in this harbor side drama set in the hamptons, on long island are all perfect sleezeballs...and dana delany and kim catrall are equally up to the task...meg tilly made a good naive dupe with untold millions to feather her nest...the cost of trimming out a yacht racing boat is perhaps more costly than the depth of the deepest ocean trench...rob lowe is no sailor and likely doesn't know a bowline from a sheepshank or marlin spike from a marlin so he barely gets the job done....a real sailor doesn't need hype, just knowledge of the winds and his boat...i guess the same could be said about a husband and wife

Intriguing Thriller

[gcd70 · 7/10 · 5 October 2007]

"Masquerade" is a movie about wealth and its destructive partner in crime, greed. Meg Tilly is 'Olivia Lawrence', the young rich heiress who seems to have finally found her perfect man, but not everybody is who they appear to be.

Bob Swaim's thriller is very slick and modern, having its share of sex and violence. Yet to his credit, our director allows the film's plot to dot the bulk of the work. The script is well balanced, and contains enough twists to keep its audience guessing.

Topping it all off is Meg Tilly's fine performance. Also starred Rob Lowe, Kim Cattrall, Doug Savant and John Glover. Intriguing.

Saturday, August 8, 1992 - Video

kid stuff

[mjneu59 · 2/10 · 5 December 2010]

Make way for yet another ersatz neo-noir thriller, fraught with danger, romance, corruption and, in this case, a sloppy murder plot so transparent that any amateur gumshoe would see through it in ten minutes flat. The target is Meg Tilly, an unmarried heiress with a passion for boating; the hunter is Rob Lowe, a yachting pilot with a shadowy past. Unfortunately, the script leaves nothing to the imagination, generating a token measure of suspense by simply adding another plot twist at twenty-minute intervals. Lowe's motivations are thus constantly shifted in and out of doubt, but the actor isn't up to the challenge of investing his character with any ambiguity (leaving, as a result, a very pretty blank spot on the screen). Worse yet, the irony of the ending is spoiled by an element of chance (specifically, a strategically placed rat) too flimsy to support the heroic suspension of disbelief needed to make the film work.

Everyone Wants Meg's Money

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 24 April 2009]

Masquerade is a really good Hitchcockian type of thriller, a combination of Suspicion and The Heiress in which sisters Joan Fontaine and Olivia DeHavilland brought aspects of Meg Tilly's character in their Oscar winning performances. It was shot on location in the ritzy Hamptons of Suffolk County, in fact the plot is about the haves and have nots of the area. And that's an area where the haves have PLENTY.

One of those haves is Meg Tilly heir to a $300,000.000.00 fortune. She's a nice kid who properly wonders whether the men who court like her for her or bank account.

She's got one leach of a stepfather in John Glover, a character you just love to hate. But by the terms of her mother's will she can't get rid of him until she's 21. And he's a guy who's used to a very high lifestyle.

Tilly's also got two men in her life. Local boy Doug Savant whose father works in the shipyard on the yachts of the rich and famous who has joined the town police force. He's been crushing out on her since he was a little kid. But the Hamptons do have their own caste system.

And then into her life comes Rob Lowe, the handsome and mysterious stranger who captains Brian Davies yacht and on the side kanoodles with his wife, Kim Cattrall. He puts the moves on Tilly and since its Rob Lowe, who could blame a girl.

Tilly's the innocent here, that's a constant, but as the story continues and several murders take place, she doesn't know who to trust. You won't know because the plot takes several twists and the motives of the persons in the cast change over the course of the film.

For those of you Rob Lowe fans of both genders you can have ample opportunity to see him in several stages of undress with Kim Cattrall and Meg Tilly. He's also got an interesting scene with Doug Savant who looks pretty good himself that takes on some homoerotic overtones. What beautiful children those two would have if possible.

The title Masquerade refers both to the name of the Tilly family yacht and the fact that except for Tilly, a lot of these characters are not as they appear on the surface. Masquerade is a really good thriller of a film, don't miss it when it is shown.

Matt Dillon could have played in it....

[searchanddestroy-1 · 7/10 · 16 April 2024]

Rob Lowe is OK in this story, an excellent Hitchcock like plot, a tense and riveting thriller, saving many twists and surprises, but Matt Dillon would have also been perfect in such a character. Not too many clichés, except the naive young and very rich young woman around whom so many nasty people snoop. Meg Tilly is awesome in this lead character. The director Bob Swaim was mostly known for the French crime film LA BALANCE; as RIFIFI was also a French crime masterpiece directed by also an American film maker: Jules Dassin. The other stuff from Bob Swaim is not that known, and I suppose not that interesting too. Anyway this one looks like a James Hadley Chase's book adaptation, or even Patricia Highsmith's one.

See if you can guess this great ending!

[bek-12 · 8/10 · 25 January 2000]

I just read a review that said, basically, that this movie had too many questions. Don't get the wrong idea by reading reviews (even mine--we're all biased): this movie means to keep you guessing. Don't worry--it doesn't leave you confused at the end. It wraps everything up tidily, and ends in a believable fashion, but all through the movie, you never know who is really the bad guy. This is an intelligent, highly underrated movie. It's one of my favorites.