Alex (Anne Heche, If These
Walls Could Talk I and II, Girls in
Prison) is a Long Beach, California bank executive with money problems.
She works as a high class hooker in the evenings, and that's where she meets Bruno
Buckingham (Christopher Walken), a big shot money launderer. On that fateful night,
Bruno's bodyguard Tony (Steven Bauer) rapes her and turns out to be a undercover
cop who blackmails her into helping him nail his boss. (Warning: it's a brutal
rape scene.)
Bruno's wife Virginia (Joan Chen, What's Cooking?,
Saving Face) visits Alex in her office. After
a liquid lunch, the two get it on in the executive washroom and then move to an
extended love scene in Alex's bedroom. Alex is in love for the first time in her
life, but is she just being used again? This is one of those thrillers in
which the good guys and the bad guys are hard to distinguish. Alex tries to set
both men up and run off with Virginia. Will they make it away safely with the
cash in hand, or will Virginia double cross her? Christopher Walken is creepy
as usual, but the rest of the film also has an uncomfortable, twisted feel to
it. In one scene, Bruno almost rapes Tony to prove his love for Alex. It's all
about power and control - over money, sex and other people. This is not a film
high on my list, but Heche and Chen make quite a sexy couple.
|