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The Curve | Year: 1998 Classification: Mystery / Suspense Directed: - Dan Rosen Actors/Actresses: - Keri Russell - Matthew Lillard - Michael Vartan Clever indie movie This straight-to-video release is actually a lot better than a lot of postmodern thrillers that have been scurried to the shelves in the wake of the hugely successful 'Scream' movies. It's plot has two college guys plotting to kill off their roomate because it will ensure them a 4.0 grade average, getting them both into Harvard. After all, their friend Rand is an easy target, what with his girlfriend Natalie getting pregnant and the depressing range of books and CDs that his mates leave by his bed. And so it's done, the only problem being that a body can't be found and the police start sniffing around. Lillard is exceptional as the canniving lead, especially when the extent of his scheme becomes apparent to the guy he plots with. Twist after twist follows this but unlike something like 'Wild Things', the movie manages to pull them off well. In particular the last scene is very gripping indeed, and it's not without a good dollop of black humour. If this is never quite as scary as 'Jeepers Creepers' or as consistently witty as 'Scream', it is still a real original in the horror field and is genuinely intelligent. Good little pickup. If you are into great performances.. then this movie is definatley not for you. However if you are looking for good movie to watch on a friday night, then this one is a winner. The movie is based on a urban legend that is prevalent on college campuses. The story goes that many colleges have a policy that if your roomate commits suicide, you get all A's. Ok its absurd, but it provides a good backdrop for the movie. Scream's diamond in the rough performer, Matthew Lillard, once again provides a high strung element to the movie. Felicity's Keri Russell does a good job playing both the good girl(first half of the movie) and the bad(last half). The movies two main characters are college students. One of course is the ambitious,pre law type(Played by Michael Vartan. The other(played by Lillard) is the crazy(a bit psychotic), no-care-in-the-world type. However the two students soon hatch a plan to get rid of their obnoxious roomate(played by Randall Batinkoff). The plan? To throw him from a cliff and make it appear he commited suicide. Why? In this strange alter universe where College deans care, to recieve straight A's. In the meantime the two begin to go head to head. Lillard's character seducing his roomates girlfriend, and the poor girlfriend of the suicidal roomate killing herself. The battle heats up as the two begin fingering each other to the police with subtle suggestions to the police. As the net tightens, Vartan's character makes his final showdown with Lillard's character at the scene of the first suicide. However a few surprises will be for all those involved. So typical good guy vs bad guy with good guy winning in the end? Not quite. The final plot twist reverses the roles showing the sinister side of many of the "good guys". In typical good suspense movie fashion, the given is no longer a given. To tell the plot twist would totally ruin it. But its a rather good one. The plot twist alone is worth watching the movie. What you are left with is a pretty good movie. Not a outstanding one. But a good watch that will surprise ya. Woefully underrated gem. The Curve (Dan Rosen, 1998) It is the painful reality of the American moviegoer that in any year more than one film is released on the same subject, the better film will never fail to either be completely eclipsed, publicity-wise, by the worse film (the good, but nothing great, The Lost Boys overshadowing one of the best modern American films, Near Dark), or the better film will simply not be widely released. Such was the case in 1998 with the horrifically bad Dead Man on Campus and its clever companion The Curve. The latter debuted at the Sundance Film Festival eight months before the release of the former, then disappeared until a video release almost eighteen months later. More's the pity for those who subjected themselves to the MTV-Films-produced monstrosity that was Dead Man on Campus. Both films center around the same idea-the urban legend that if a collegiate's roommate commits suicide, that collegiate will be granted a 4.0 grade point average for the semester. (Both were, in fact, inspired by the same event-a monologue on a standup comedy show on MTV, which is presented in voiceover at the beginning of The Curve.) Dead Man on Campus played the idea for laughs. The Curve, on the other hand, took the idea and turned it into one of the most intriguing pieces to come out of the new film noir movement. The film centers around five college seniors. Rand (Randall Batinkoff, of Christy fame), Tim (Matthew "Shaggy" Lillard), and Chris (Michael Vartan, most recently seen in One Hour Photo) are roommates; Rand and Chris are also dating roommates Natalie (Tamara Craig Thomas of Odyssey 5) and Emma (Keri Russell, back when she still had great hair). Chris and Tim's grades have both dropped over the semester, and Tim suggests the inevitable: the two of them conspire to kill Rand, whom no one's fond of anyway, and make it look like a suicide. The plot twists, turns, and hairpins from there, becoming that rarest of film birds, an impossibly complex maze that remains easy to follow until the last few minutes (and a few moments of reflection after the movie is over will put everything into place that happens during the climax and denoument). Many of the reviews I could drum up about the obscure little gem focused on the performance of Matthew Lillard as the borderline psychotic Tim, but to me it was Vartan who truly stood out in this high-powered cast (which also includes such B-level stalwarts as Dana Delany and Henry Strozier). Rare is the role that requires an actor to play the kind of apathetic confusion one often finds in bad slasher films; here we get a chance to see that done right, it's actually workable. Chris, likeably confused throughout, is the perfect foil to Lillard's manic Tim, and the two create an atmosphere of friendship concealing a barely suppressed violence towards one another that gives the film an electricity it needed to stay on track throughout. Obscure, but well worth tracking down for folks who like the Buy The Curve at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on The Curve Search with the Priority Search Engine on The Curve This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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