Killing Me Softly (R-Rated Edition)
It's easy to identify the biggest attraction ofKilling Me Softly: two fetching actors (Heather Graham, Joseph Fiennes) and lots of nudity--especially in theunrated version. It's harder to choose the bigger liability: the dialogue howlers (as Fiennes binds Graham in ropes, she says, "Sometimes I feel like I don't know you") or the incredibly obvious solution to the big mystery. The story is an unofficial update of Hitchcock'sSuspicion: a new wife wonders whether her unbelievably charismatic husband might be a murderer. The Chinese filmmaker Chen Kaige (Farewell My Concubine) turns out to be exactly the wrong director for this overheated slice ofl'amour fouin London, but with the hopeless pairing of Graham and Fiennes as the passionate lovers, he didn't have much of a chance. A nicely romantic Patrick Doyle score is the only reason not to hit the Mute button and enjoy the visuals.--Robert Horton