Fascination

Finally, an “erotic thriller” for people who like the ludicrous, threadbare plots and stilted, preposterous acting of bad porn, but want to skip all the repetitive explicit sex that goes along with it. Laughably cheap and cheesy, this ridiculous tale of infidelity, murder, and alleged sexual obsession is beset by absurd coincidence, “sexy” moaning on the soundtrack, and dialogue that sounds like it was badly translated from another language...oh, and lots of boring, fake-looking, pseudo-sex--happening just off-camera enough to qualify for an R rating. Adam Garcia, whose idea of “emoting” is to screw his face up like he just smelled something bad, “stars” as Scott Doherty, a man who suspects that the death of his wealthy father was cooked up by his mother (Jacqueline Bisset). In pursuit of this suspicion, the awful Garcia and his new girlfriend (Alice Evans)--who just happens to be the daughter of his mother's new boyfriend (Stuart Wilson)--roll off the roof of City Hall while having sex on the Spanish tiles, and roll an SUV off the road at high speed in an act of foreplay, all while the viewer is rolling his or her eyes. But the highest low point here may be the double date that Scott and a friend take their girlfriends on: to the illegal nighttime exhumation of Scott's father's body. Bisset escapes significant damage just by being so damn regal and elegant, but the rest of the cast have no such fallback position: they deserve every snort of derisive laughter they get. Not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include a 12-minute “making-of” featurette, three “From Page to Screen” scene studies (7 min.), an alternate ending (2 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a small extras package for a forgettable film.] (M. Johanson)