Product: Final Analysis [VHS] (1992)
Rating: 2.0
Truly awful, but why?
With this truly awful movie, the challenge is figuring out just why. How can a movie with such a promising, suspenseful start become laugh-out-loud, unintentionally, funny?Every movie must create and inhabit a consistent universe. That universe could have a day-to-day, this is really happening quality. Like your typical Alfred Hitchcock movie. Or, that universe could be more fanciful, with improbable cliffhanger events. Like your typical Arnold Schwartzenager or Harrison Ford movie. When you try to switch from one to the other in midstream, you get that unintentionally funny quality.The movie begins with a realistic psychiatrist/patient relationship between Richard Gere and Ulma Thurman. The focus quickly shifts to a psychiatrist/patient's sister relationship (Kim Bassinger). That's a little strain on the credibility meter. Falling in love with a patient's sister? Not generally a good idea, but we'll give the story the benefit of the doubt.Halfway through, we get the Hitchockian twist. Things are not really as they seem. I was caught off guard. Impressive so far. But the credibility meter is getting a little strained. Didn't anyone see Richard and Kim hanging out together on, say, the night of the crime? Didn't anyone realize the accused woman's sister was in therapy with Mr. Gere? Wouldn't that have been relevant for the trial?Ah, but we're only a bit over an hour into the movie. More time to kill. Time to drag our poor psychiatrist into a Schartzenager/Ford universe. Frame him with some ridiculous barbel nonsense that he could easily dispense with by. . . surprise . . . telling the truth! No, that would be too simple. Let's throw in an improbable escape from the mental institution, an even more improbable rendevouz with the clever cop and the escapee at a dock and lighthouse, and a few life-and-death close calls at said lighthouse. Let's turn Richard from a psychiatrist into an action hero, and Kim from an abused wife into a clever schemer and gun-wielding gangster to boot. Give everyone the best of both worlds. While we're at it, let's make Alfred Hitchock roll over in his grave by shamelessly copying his tricks?Shifting from one universe to another in midstream. That's what humor is all about.