Fatal Attraction
Directed Adrian Lyne

The subgenre of “idiot doofus has an affair and chaos ensues” is something of a recurring component in the Siskel programming and none demonstrate it more convincingly than Adrian Lyne’s Fatal Attraction. It’s my least favorite film of the series, by far, but it’s also probably the most recognizable of all the titles here so go figure. The film details a wealthy lawyer’s (Michael Douglas) affair with a schizophrenic businesswoman (Glenn Close). It’s a sexy film with a lot of 80s haircuts, but whereas other films in this series demonstrate some modicum of incisiveness and sensitivity about its characters and their infidelities, the charges levied against Close’s character make her out to be something of a horror film slasher killer. She’s more nightmarish than some of the villains her decade produced, including Freddy Krueger or Jason. It simply veers too close to the cartoonish, while Michael Douglas’ family-man character is so oblivious to his own toxicity that it would be funny if it didn’t remind me of me. This is one of those films where all the character’s problems could be remedied by having a fifteen minute conversation, which I suppose to the toxic is the real horror story.