Love Crimes

Stars: Sean Young (A Kiss Before Dying, Once Upon a Crime, No Way Out), Patrick Bergin (Sleeping With the Enemy, Mountains of the Moon, Patriot Games). Sean Young stars as Dana Greenway, an assistant D.A. who decides to go after "David Hanover" (Bergin), a con man who poses as a famous photographer in order to seduce, humiliate, and steal from women. Unfortunately for Greenway, the women refuse to press charges. Therefore, she decides to try her hand at being bait, and in the process finds herself becoming sexually drawn to Hanover with increasingly dangerous consequences. Loads of trade publicity surround the two versions of the video release, and director Lizzie Borden even makes an appearance on the "unrated" screener to argue for the superiority of the "unrated" version. The cuts for the theatrically released version involve some six minutes of footage (mostly an extended love scene and Young's full-frontal nudity). In the "R"-rated version, some of the motivation for Young's character ended up on the cutting room floor making this version more confusing--but with either version there are plot holes left large enough to easily accommodate a passing Mack truck. It's somewhat disturbing that director Borden, who made such a wonderfully original film about prostitution (1987's Working Girls), chose a project which basically validates the Harlequin romance concept of male (dominant)/female (submissive) relationships. [Note: the promotional offer of adding a free copy of No Way Out with every 4 copies of Love Crimes purchased is hands-down this month's trinket-in-a-Cracker-Jacks-box promotion.] Audience: Lookieloos are going to naturally grab this one, and the "unrated" version cover art features an additional shot of Sean Young handcuffed to a chair to go along with the shot of Bergin holding her wrists and feet captive (neither shot appears in the film).