To Die For

"Suzanne" (Nicole Kidman) is the epitome of ambition as she convinces local cable boss "Ed" (Wayne Knight) that she'll do just about anything to get her foot in the door - even read out the weather forecast! She's not exactly bright, but she knows exactly how to press the buttons to get her ahead. Snag is she's married to "Larry" (Matt Dillon) and he wants a more traditional family unit with, ideally, kids at some point. To that she merely points out that he ought to have just married a baby sitter! She decides that a change is now necessary and to that end recruits the services of the gullible "Jimmy" (Joaquin Phoenix) and his pal "Russel" (Casey Affleck) to eliminate her problem. Thing is, the former lad actually falls for her big time and though compliant both he and his other friend "Lydia" (Alison Folland) might not prove too reliable when the police come a-knocking. She's going to have take a few risks and keep her wits about her, if her dream of daytime television stardom is ever to reach fruition... This starts off strongly depicting the story via a series of interviews with those closest to her, and they serve quite effectively as pillars supporting the deviousness of the plot. Thing is, though, given we know all along who's done what to whom, and why - there's no jeopardy and I missed that. Kidman does fine, but the menacing aspects of the role really do rather peter out half way through and the comedy is more miss than hit. Folland probably delivers best cutting a ditzy and lonely figure as the film develops and it's quite a potent indictment of ambition and manipulation from time to time too, but I just couldn't quite take her seriously. I did really quite like the solution, though! My kind of denouement.