They’ve since broken up, to the chagrin of paparazzi everywhere. (After a score of Covid-related delays, the movie finally debuted on Hulu today.) For one, Deep Water stars early-pandemic “it” couple Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas, who met during filming, fell in love, and briefly took over the internet with their matching jewelry and penchant for cardboard cut outs. ![]() I can't call Deep Water a good movie, exactly, but I can't deny that there's something good about having Adrian Lyne back.A lot of fuss has been made over Adrian Lyne’s film adaptation of Deep Water, based on the novel by The Talented Mr. Like Highsmith, the director seems to harbor no illusions about how truly appalling people can be, and his honesty is bracing. This movie slyly inverts that setup, partly by making the Van Allens' marriage so unhappy to begin with. What's refreshing about Deep Water, especially in contrast to Fatal Attraction and Unfaithful, is that it lacks the moralistic streak that has often marred Lyne's work, where characters stray from happy marriages and wind up paying the price in a flurry of horrific violence. It's enough to trigger the suspicions of a nosy neighbor, played by a typically sharp Tracy Letts. Even before we learn how Vic earned his millions - he invented a microchip now used in drone warfare - there's something ominous and inscrutable beneath his calm surface. ![]() Affleck, always an underrated actor, fares better: As in Gone Girl, another potboiler about a loveless marriage, he excels at playing the golden boy gone to seed. The story does raise the intriguing possibility that Melinda and Vic might be engaging in some kinky extended role play, but whatever game these two are up to isn't, in the end, terribly interesting.ĭe Armas, who was terrific in movies like Knives Outand No Time to Die, seems to have been directed mainly to flirt, drink and scream at the top of her lungs. Meanwhile, the director keeps piling on his signature touches, from the Architectural Digest furnishings to the tasteful nudity it wouldn't be an Adrian Lyne movie if the female lead didn't sit around soaking in an antique bathtub. Significant chunks of the story seem to have wound up on the cutting-room floor, particularly as it speeds toward an almost comically abrupt ending. Sometimes it's a self-aware hoot, and sometimes it's a disjointed drag. The writers have also retained some of Highsmith's more eccentric flourishes, including Vic's prized snail collection: If you've ever wanted to see Ben Affleck look on affectionately while snails slither across his open palm, this is the movie for you.Īt times, Deep Water seems to move as slowly as those snails. ![]() But the general premise is the same: When Melinda's lovers start turning up dead, rumors begin to spread around town that Vic was responsible. He and his writers, Zach Helm and Sam Levinson, have moved the story up to the present day and given the plot a few tweaks. Highsmith's icy cynicism makes for an intriguing but far from seamless fit with Lyne's soapy style. Part of the fun of the movie is the way he manages to express his contempt for Melinda and her many lovers without losing his cool. ![]() Vic is good at hiding his jealousy, up to a point. Vic and Melinda have an open marriage, at least where Melinda's concerned: She spends most of her time chasing dreamy, mostly dull-witted young men around town and sometimes inviting them over to the house for dinner. They play Vic and Melinda Van Allen, a fabulously wealthy couple who live with their young daughter in New Orleans. For what it's worth, Affleck and de Armas don't have much on-screen chemistry, which seems somewhat intentional. And so - like Eyes Wide Shut with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, or By the Sea with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt - Deep Water offers the titillating spectacle of a real-life ill-fated couple playing a fictional ill-fated couple.
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