Red Letters (2000)

Has to be on of Peter Coyote's best acting jobs today. Of course Peter is most recognized from his charater in the epic film E.T. and of course, who can forget The Legend of Billy Jean. Peter portrays and alcoholic college professor(Dennis Burke) just released from a former College on the grounds of sexual harassment. Opening scene in this movie is one of a kind. At his new College, Dennis is befriended by a wanna be computer hacker, Thurston Clarque(Jeremy Piven), and not a bad portrayal of the computer hacker from Piven. As Dennis tries to adjust to his new living, he begins receiving letters from an unknown woman(Natassja Kinski), trying to reach the man that once lived in the apartment. Dennis begins making contact with this myterious woman, and only to find out that she is in a woman's correctional facility, for a brutal crime she claims she didn't do. If things couldn't get any more complicated for Dennis, his sexually frustrated student, Gretchen, played by flawlessly by (Fairuza Balk ) is now infatuated with him, probably because of the sexual art book he wrote in the past. Trying to deal with Gretchen and Lydia, Dennis' friend Thurston has some how hacked in the correctional facility to help Lydia escape. Reasons for this act are not clearly informed in the movie. now Lydia is out of jail and Thurston now in custody, puts Dennis in a world of lies, deciet, and murder. Other fellow cast members include Ernie Hudson who gives a great supporting actn and Udo Kier. Watch and enjoy.

In "Red Letters", Coyote is at the vortex of as a college professor who writes to a female prison inmate and gets more than he bargained for. There are two reasons to watch this flick...Kinski is one and Piven the other although it's difficult for their sparks to shine in such a complete directorial disaster. Everything is wrong with "Red Letters"...convoluted, lousy screenplay, camera, editing, and most of all acting which is subpar for Coyote, etc. Battersby has taken a story with potential and turned it into a seriously flawed and amateurish flick not worth the time.

I'm usually not fond of HBO movies, but this one was a little more well-written than the rest of them. The acting was so-so, however what should be expected? (Beggers can't be choosers, right?) At times unintentionally hilarious (The fact Peter Coyote's character liked to use four letter words a lot got funny after it got derivative) but halfway into the picture the tawdryness dimmed down and it actually turned into a interesting crime mystery.Not worth renting, but if it's on HBO again you might want to check it out.

Good performances by a great cast. Fairuza Balk looked great as a student who knew how to raise her grade in more ways than one. Peter Coyote played a widowed professor obsessed with the writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne and a sucker for the young women in his class. The plot was refreshing unpredictable and complex. The sexual undertones and twists were reminiscent of the movie "Body Heat". Jeremy Piven provided some great comic relief moments as the computer science professor turned internet hacker. This made for an entertaining and interesting movie worth watching. Look for a cameo by Pauly Shore, too.