From: blake7@herahera.cc.bellcore.com (berardinelli,james)
Subject: REVIEW: HEXED
Reply-To: blake7@herahera.cc.bellcore.com (berardinelli,james)
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 14:38:12 GMT
Followup-To: rec.arts.movies
Summary: r.a.m.r. #01722
Keywords: author=Berardinelli

				     HEXED
		       A film review by James Berardinelli
			Copyright 1993 James Berardinelli

Running Length:  1:33
Rated:  R (Language, nudity, sexual situations)

Starring:  Ayre Gross, Claudia Christian, Adrienne Shelly, Norman Fell
Director:  Alan Spencer
Producers:  Marc S. Fischer and Louis G. Friedman
Screenplay:  Alan Spencer
Music:  Lance Rubin
Released by Columbia Pictures

     Matthew Welsh (Ayre Gross), a clerk at the Holiday Palace Hotel, is
a dreamer who has trouble keeping straight the line between fantasy and
reality.  His life takes a turn for the bizarre when Hexina (Claudia
Christian), the world-famous model, checks into the hotel.  Through an
elaborate ruse, Matthew manages to lure her back to his apartment for a
night of wild, uninhibited passion.  Unfortunately for him, sex isn't
the only thing Hexina gets him involved in.  Matthew soon learns that
she also has a thing for knives and guns.

     Occasionally, small-budget comedies with relatively-unknown actors
can be charming and entertaining (witness 1992's THE CUTTING EDGE with
Moira Kelly and D. B. Sweeney).  HEXED is not such a film.  While it
obviously cost little to produce, and offers Norman Fell as its
best-known name, "entertaining" is about the last word I would use to
describe it.  Offensive, humorless, and tiresome are more appropriate
adjectives.

     While comedies are not generally known for advocating a social
agenda, HEXED is reprehensible in the attitude it presents.  Originally
scheduled for a 1992 release, it was temporarily shelved after the Los
Angeles riots.  The reason is obvious:  a scene where uniformed police
officers beat an unarmed man.  Designed to parody the Rodney King
incident (with the line by the white victim of "I'm a Republican"
supposedly providing the irony), it's unclear why this moment wasn't
relegated to the cutting room floor--its presence is disgraceful.  Only
the most twisted mind will find humor in lampooning such an event.

     On top of that, the film's attitude toward blacks is disturbing.
The sole black character in HEXED is a valet who is portrayed as being
stupid and selfish.  In no scene is he presented in a positive light.
While an injustice like this might go unnoticed in other movies,
attention is drawn to it by the aforementioned parody of the King
beating.  I won't go so far as to charge director/ writer Alan Spencer
with racism, but he is guilty at least of insensitivity.

     HEXED is yet another in a long line of supposed comedies that
doesn't contain a single humorous line.  The placing and intent of the
jokes is obvious, but they're all so juvenile that even the
easily-amused will discover little to make them laugh.  Most TV sitcoms
serve up better fare.  This film did not elicit one chuckle from me, and
that's rare for even the most lame of movies.

     As a satire, HEXED is no more successful than it is as anything
else.  There are quick visual references to BASIC INSTINCT, FATAL
ATTRACTION, and a number of other slasher/exploitation films, but none
of these are memorable or amusing.  They lack teeth and wit.

     Finally, a word should be said about the performers.  They deserve
to be in a box-office bomb.  They have no range.  It's a fair indication
of how intolerable they are to say that Norman Fell's performance is
among the most credible.  Claudia Christian does a fine job by the
standards of high camp, but even her die-hard fans would be hard-pressed
to justify sitting through ninety minutes of this dross simply to listen
to her screeching lines, and watch her making faces and strutting around
in a black leather mini-skirt.

     It's curious that HEXED was released to theaters in the first
place.  It's the kind of movie that, on those occasions when it gets
filmed, usually goes straight to video.  From the reception it got from
the pitifully small crowd on "opening night", it won't take long to
reach there.  This review is a warning not only to miss it on the big
screen, but to give it an equally wide berth when it's available for the
smaller one.

                             Rating:  1.9 (F, *)


- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)


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