The Last Seduction (1994)

This is one twisted chick in one twisted film. The thing that obviously attracts us to the female character is her beauty, and brains. No one could be this evil and still have men chasing her without "something." And the "something" is that she's sexy as can be a real knock-out. Linda Fiorentino is one of Hollywood's overlooked gems. Not only is she incredibly beautiful, but she is also a gifted actress. She'd made a few forgettable films prior to this, but this is the film that sent her star rising up-word. She delivered what had to be the hands down best performance of the year, in what had to be the best film of the year. Yet because it was first released to cable she was unable to be nominated for an Academy Award (Best Actress).There may be plot holes in "The Last Seduction," but I didn't notice them. And when Fiorentino's character (Bridget) burns a piece of evidence at the film's end, it certainly makes a case that the writers were not slack with the details. The other point that made me hesitate was the full screen treatment, and claims of a poor quality film transfer. I'm a widescreen viewer, but please do not let this full screen treatment discourage you. As for the quality of the film, it's a bit grainy, but I felt that actually gave the movie more of a gritty "film noir" look. After watching, I felt the tragedy as well. All that intelligence, calculation, expense of energy....for what? All for a tragic goal, although a tragic goal is not the same as a tragic ending. Poet W. S. Merwin nailed it with: "if we only knew, if we only knew what we needed, the stars would look to us to guide them." Overall rating: 9 out of 10.

Clay and Bridget Gregory are an affluent New York yuppie couple who supplement their income by a bit of drug dealing on the side. Their marriage, however, is not a happy one and after they make $700,000 on one deal Bridget steals the cash from her husband and flees to a small town near Buffalo. There she changes her name to Wendy Kroy and gets a job at the local insurance company. (Her new name is derived from "Wen Kroy"- "New York" spelt backwards). She begins a relationship with Mike, a young man who works for the same company, and evolves a complicated scheme to use Mike to get rid of Clay, who is desperately trying to track her down to recover the stolen money.I originally saw "The Last Seduction" when it first came out in 1994 and left it convinced that its leading lady Linda Fiorentino, so amply gifted with both beauty and talent, was going to become a major star. When I watched it again recently my main feeling was one of surprise that we have seen so little of her since. She did not even appear in the sequel "The Last Seduction II", in which the character of Bridget was played by Joan Severance. Here, however, her performance is absolutely electrifying. Bridget is quite shamelessly manipulative and deceitful, and so amoral that she verges on the psychopathic, but Fiorentino invests her with so much glamour and sex appeal that we can understand how a man like Mike might fall for her, even though he should be under no illusions as to her true nature. The other great performance comes from Bill Pullman, a man as devious as his wife and very nearly as clever.I initially wondered if the reason for Fiorentino's subsequent neglect by casting directors could have been that she got her big break too late- she was 36 when she appeared in this film- and therefore had insufficient time to establish herself as a major star before hitting 40, the age at which Hollywood starts to deem actresses as being over- the-hill and henceforward only suitable for "older woman" roles. On the other hand, this does not seem to have been a problem for Fiorentino's exact contemporary Sharon Stone, also born in 1958, who also got her big break in an erotic thriller, in her case "Basic Instinct", when in her mid-thirties. The film is an example of neo-noir, a type of thriller which takes the conventions of the original films noirs of the forties and fifties and adapts them to a modern style of film-making. "The Last Seduction" appears to have been inspired by one of the greatest films noirs, "Double Indemnity", which also featured a seductive, manipulative woman (played in that film by Barbara Stanwyck) and a character who worked for an insurance company. At one point the expression "double indemnity" is even mentioned in the script.The film is not quite as visually distinctive as some other neo-noirs such as "Body Heat", "Gorky Park", "Insomnia" or Polanski's "Chinatown", sometimes regarded as the film which started the neo-noir genre. In most other respects, however, it is excellent, with an ingenious plot, gripping action, some great acting and some sharp dialogue. It also has a vividly memorable anti-heroine in the shape of the glamorous, intelligent, resourceful yet utterly evil Bridget. I would rank it in the same class as that other great neo-noir from the nineties, "LA Confidential", which earned itself nine Academy Award nominations, including "Best Picture", and brought Kim Basinger an Oscar for "Best Supporting Actress". Certainly, there was talk of a "Best Actress" nomination for Fiorentino for "The Last Seduction", but in the event the film was not nominated for a single Oscar. This, however, had nothing to do with any lack of quality; it was ruled ineligible because it had been shown on HBO before it was released to theatres. Perhaps if Fiorentino had won, or even been nominated, her subsequent career would have been a lot more stellar. 8/10

"The Last Seduction" from 1994 is a modern noir that succeeds mostly due to the performance of Linda Fiorentino, who makes Kathleen Turner in Body Heat look like Zasu Pitts.Fiorentino plays Bridget Gregory, who steals a fortune in drug money from her husband (Bill Pullman) and goes on the run. She ends up in a small town, Beston, while getting gas for her car, and meets Mike (Peter Berg), a frustrated man who wants to leave Beston. He did live in Buffalo, but all he will say is that it didn't work out. He wears a wedding ring that he can't get off, though he's no longer married. He and Bridget become sex partners, though he wants a more meaningful relationship. However, she won't give him any information about herself.Bridget then gets a job at an insurance company and convinces the bosses to let her work under another name because her vicious husband is after her. She hatches a murder for hire scheme using insurance company records, targeting philandering men who have credit cards in the names of women other than their wives along with love nests, where she convinces the wives their husbands are better off dead. Mike is horrified and wants no part of it. He will have to be persuaded. Somehow.Some elegant twists in this noir, along with a dark, steamy atmosphere. Fiorentino is one of those unfortunate cases of stardom eluded, probably due to choosing parts and films that interested her rather than films that had commercial value. Many films she's made have not been able to get distribution.She is gangbusters as Bridget - beautiful, sexy, ruthless, possibly one of the most ruthless women ever in films. She liked the role because the character had no conscience and no vulnerability. It's a performance deserving of all the awards she was either nominated for or received, but Golden Globe and Oscar attention would have been nice.Good movie, highly recommended.

Watched this movie expecting it to be a usual sexy flick, but once you start its a pretty brilliant movie.it starts of with a drug deal by a husband and wife to make some quick money and start off their dream life. But then the wife gets smart and tries to get away with the whole stash. in my opinion the script is very engaging and combined with the very convincing act put on by Linda Fiorentino(bridged gregory), the lead lady. She made the movie come to life with so much versatility, it was so natural and spontaneous. As the plot delves in, each of her wicked plans unfold, and we are left to wonder, "Oh God, what kind of woman is this?" But even then you have a subtle appreciation for the kind of tricky net she builds and manipulates people into it. She moves into a small country so that she can stay low for a while and gets a job, so as to stay rooted. But her husband, is not going to let go and sets out to find her. this is how the movie rolls. The highlight is it doesn't make the ending justifiable or the ending as it have turned out to be , like in the usual movies, this one takes a different turn, a much more fun turn, just as the whole movie is. Entertaining , sexy and carefree!