Steve D
The characters are so flat so unlikable you can't wait for them to go away.
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
03/02/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Once you see outside your window it's hard to unsee
Steve Guttenberg, Elizabeth McGovern, and Isabelle Huppert
Terry Lambert is sleeping with Sylvia, the wife of his boss
One night, while in Terry's apartment, Sylvia witnesses a man assaulting a young woman, Denise, on the road below
Not wanting to reveal her affair with Terry, she keeps quiet
Terry instead steps forward, trying to help nab the criminal
However, he never saw the suspect and, when his lies are uncovered, the police begin to suspect his motives
Is he a bigger person of interest or the actual attacker? This man is known to have a history targeting helpless women on the streets
So how long can Terry keep up the charade?
The mystery here drags out as long as possible
I know they do a Hitchcock approach here but it's really derivative
Any interest of this story evaporates fast even by the last 20 min
There's better thrillers than this one
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
01/22/23
Full Review
Audience Member
i love this movie! a true classic very reminiscent to alfred hitcock.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/30/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Although good, Guttenberg doesn't quite fit this performance though I only remember him from the Police Academy series. Even though, the film itself is a bit off in places so it doesn't earn a great rating.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/19/23
Full Review
Audience Member
If you decide that its score - which sounds like Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis' aural weaknesses vomited on the background music of a better than usual porno - is going to define "The Bedroom Window" (1987) as a big-haired, throwaway 1980s thriller like I initially did, then consider yourself to be lucky. The movie's big-haired and it's thrilling and it was released in '87, all right, but being throwaway isn't the name of its game. After the ugly synth 'n' jazz trumpeted combo disintegrates into the pulsating atmosphere of the feature, we find that its real mission is to present itself as a peachy neo noir that walks and talks like the best of the Hitchcock "wrong man" pictures of classic Hollywood.
Aside from casting slice of American cheese Steve Guttenberg as its hero, "The Bedroom Window" is a note-perfect genre riff, a riff unafraid of taking its time to ensure that the stakes get the chance to grow as high as Shaq's POV. Here, Guttenberg is Terry Lambert, a businessman having an affair with his boss's luscious French wife Sylvia (Isabelle Huppert). Following a typically humdrum office party do they head back to Terry's apartment to spend the rest of the evening between the sheets, enjoying each other's company not so much out of a burning love but out of the excitement that comes with partaking in illicit behavior.
But the night takes an unexpected turn when screams are heard outside the apartment and seen is the attempted murder of a young woman, Denise (Elizabeth McGovern). Thanks to Sylvia's intervention is the crime prevented from delving into tragedy. But because she and Terry's relationship is more sexual than emotional, they're reluctant to come forward to help the police find the would-be murderer - throw in a helping hand and they'll expose their relationship, which hardly means anything to either of them anyway.
After some discussion is it decided that Terry, despite only seeing the last few seconds of the near lethal event, will be the one to come forward, the one to name names at the line-up and relay Sylvia's story before a judge. But as it goes with any kind of deception, deception characterized by good intentions or otherwise, the trial uncovers the truth that there's no way Terry could have been the one to see the crime take place, thus allowing for the release of the suspect and the putting in danger of the former and, especially, Sylvia. Only Denise knows the whole truth, and when Terry eventually becomes the prime suspect in the case, she becomes a crucial figure in bringing justice to fruition.
While it has a too-tidy ending that recalls the far-fetched coming together of one of Fred Jones' hare-brained schemes to catch a bad guy, "The Bedroom Window" is otherwise an electric treat - this is a sharp, economic thriller that works with a formula (most notably consummated by 1954's "Rear Window") and still manages to find the sting in it. The suspense terse and the performances impressively able to sell the pulpy material, it can do no wrong. We're immediately enraptured by its story, and writer/director Curtis Hanson (1992's "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" and 1997's "L.A. Confidential") knows how to keep our investment thriving.
Huppert, though out of her element, particularly complements the machinations: looking straight out of 1946, her thick accent accidentally makes it seem as though she's emulating the presentational acting style of a bad soap opera, and that somehow summarizes the way "The Bedroom Window" is able to concentrate the sum of its parts to a particular (and particularly old) genre - being film noir - and rise the fun out of it once again. McGovern reminds one of the simultaneously competent and doe-eyed Anne Shirley, standing out as a damsel in distress who rids herself of her past victimhood by the film's end.
Because the movie fails to tread on new ground, it's imminent that "The Bedroom Window" be the hidden gem we escape in for 112 minutes only to rid ourselves of like a dirty T-shirt a day or so later. But there isn't anything much wrong with turning into a glassy-eyed popcorn inhaler as long as the action in front of us is effective. Thankfully, the action in this movie is.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/03/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Michael Shrieve and I scored the movie, Curtis' first feature, so this is hardly an objective view -- although I think it's accurate.
Interesting that the critical response is almost twice the audience score. I think Curtis was, all through his career, probably a little too hip for the room, although certainly there were several hits, notably Hollywood Confidential and 8 Mile. But audience's didn't much like The Wonder Boys when it first came out either. Of course, opinions have changed about that and several other of Curtis's films after their first releases. I think eventually he'll be acknowledged as one of Hollywood's best directors. And, beyond that, he was just a wonderful person to work with -- never felt so supported. His suggestions were always exactly right.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/24/23
Full Review
Read all reviews
>
