Final Analysis

A friend warned me about this film. "It's not very good" she said. What she should have said was "It's not very good, and it goes on for a long time, and Richard Gere can't change the expression on his face, and there are scenes where you say "doesn't that remind you of....?". There's not much point in discussing details, but some useful tips are revealed. (1) How do you escape from a high security prison hospital? Ans: You walk out with the visitors when they leave. (2) How do you steal/retrieve a heavy dumbbell being carried in a shopping bag by a villainess? Ans: You put her on a tram in San Francisco, with the bag dangling out, and you get in a tram going in the opposite direction, so that as the two trams pass, you just reach out and grab!! So simple. There are better ways of spending 2+ hours than watching this.

FINAL ANALYSIS, in my opinion, is an excellent, sexy, edge-of-your-seat romantic thriller. If you ask me, the opening credits were really neat. You'll have to see the movie if you want to know why I said that. Anyway, I'll get back to critiquing this movie. I thought that Heather (Kim Basinger) was a very beautiful seductress. To me, Barr (Richard Gere) and Diana (Uma Thurman) were excellent in all their scenes together. When Jimmy (Eric Roberts) got hit in the head, I got really uncomfortable. Now, in conclusion, I highly recommend this excellent, sexy, edge-of-your seat romantic thriller to any Richard Gere or Kim Basinger fan who hasn't seen it. You're in for a good time, so go to the video store, rent it or buy it, kick back with a friend, lock the doors and windows, and watch it.

A wonderfully twisty unpredictable plot, very appealing actors and beautiful actresses, great music, tremendous suspense again and again - this is a whale of a movie. Time and again, I was completely bowled over by the plot developments - and the climax is frankly better than any I can think of in any Hitchcock movie outside of The Man Who Knew Too Much. I just loved it. I really disagree with the previous reviewer about the friendship between the psychiatrist and lawyer - one sees it all the time. Remember Gere is NOT the treating or testifying psychiatrist for any woman accused of any crime - and the friendship between himself and the lawyer is a very common phenomenon in criminal cases. (I've been a lawyer in quite a number of them). Perhaps the most fascinating - because so wonderfully understated - matter is the change in Gere's morals over the course of the movie - they go to pieces as we find him lying to people, arranging for thieves to hide evidence, etc. yet it's completely believable and interesting.

This is a wonderful thriller about a psychiatrist (Richard Gere) that begins an affair with the sister (Kim Basinger) of one of his patients (Uma Thurman). The acting is superb and the plot line an entangled web of romance, deceit and murder. It is very "Hitchcockian" in everything from the musical score to the film angles and that is a good thing. Basinger won her Oscar for "L.A. Confidential" but trust me, that was a make-up by the Academy (as they often do) for not giving it to her for this film. She gives the performance of her life and this movie is worth watching just for that. But the movie is much more than that and saying any more would be giving it away. "Final Analysis" is one of my wife and I's favorite movies. Do yourself a favor and give it a shot.

This is truly a great film with outstanding actors and a very suspenseful plot which managed to keep my eyes glued to the silver screen. Richard Gere,(Isaac Barr)," Shall We Dance",'04, was a doctor who was treating sexy Uma Thurman,(Diane Baylor),"Chelsea Walls",'01, who was beginning to fall in love with Isaac until he meets Kim Basinger,(Heather Evans),"Cellular",'04. Heather gets Isaac all hot and bothered and seems to have a magical control over his entire mind and body. Paul Guilfoyle,(Mike O'Brien),"Tempesta",'04 & CSI Las Vegas, is a lawyer friend of Isaac and tries to give him good advice about his relationship with Heather. Eric Roberts,(Jimmy Evans),"Killer Weekend",'04, is married to Heather and is very abusive in his love making and his possessive control over her mind and body. This is a great film to watch, especially if you are a great fan of Kim Basinger!

When Kim B. put the dumbbell in a paper bag, the paper bag with the paper handles, it was really stupid. You don't carry dumbbells in paper bags with paper handles. But what this dumbbell in the paper bag goes through is only just beginning. You see, then, the guy who wants to snatch the dumbbell away from Kim B. somehow figures out that she's going to get on a cable car and stand on the outside step of the cable car and she's going to hold the paper bag with the dumbbell in it out over the street as she travels down the street in San Francisco. So... his plan is to quickly get on another cable car going in the opposite direction and grab the bag, the paper bag with the paper handles with the 10kg dumbbell in it, away from her. Which he proceeds to do. This is just one of the dozens of impossible things that happen in this stupid movie. Comparing this to Hitchcock is downright criminal. The director of this movie should be demoted to studio janitor.

When a lawyer gets to his feet with that know-it-all smirk on his face, or languidly strokes his upper lip before deigning to get up and approach the witness, time-worn ready-made formulas, it is time to change channel or switch off and go to bed. However, my wife likes that kind of thing, and for that reason the powers above have endowed some of us men with a dosis of patience, or at least with not having anything else to do at that precise moment; so you clasp her hand and wait earnestly for `The End' and all those credits which, today, most channels cut off, anyway. So there you have it: Gere, Basinger and Thurman, all together, having a bit of fun for their pay-cheques, and millions of obliging cinema-goers and TV-watchers obediently put on their intelligent masks of appreciation and understanding, and take another sip at their beer/Martini/Whisky/Cognac/Champagne/Daiquiri/Tequila/Coca-cola or whatever else there may be at their elbows. `Ding-dong' says the logo announcing that such fantastic notions are only for adult viewing, and on we go with dear Richard, heart-breaking Kim and luscious Uma for another bout of Hollywoodian contaminated virus. The fact that one could be enjoying Santana, Janis Joplin, Shakira or Jacqueline Du Pré, does not enter into the equation: we're gonna suck this drivel ‘cos it's near bedtime, and their ain't nuthin better……….. Such cliched piddle, often sounding back to things like `Dallas' or `Falcon Crest', is fodder for the gaping masses, and as Richard Gere struggles with trying to assume feelings totally beyond him, one takes a rather more generous sip, lights another cigarette and stares at a crack in the wall above and to the left of the giant Samsung Tantus Flat Panel Plasma Screen three and a half metres away and which you swear was not there a few days ago – the crack, I mean. And as it all flopped its way to a climax, or something like that, and I am still wondering why the over-18s logo, with accompanying orchestral scurries which might have been from Panic in the Tunnel (definitely no qv) or any other of the ilk seeking arbitrarily to increase potential feelings of excitement precisely because neither the story-line nor the acting would excite the imaginitive possibilities of a chimpanzee, I find that all the most minimum ideas in my head have frozen up solid. Mesmerised, that's what it is – a psychological reaction discovered by the Austrian Doctor Mesmer. The orchestra gets all frenzied and a special effects thunderstorm is at full fury, but by then one could not care less anyway. Never mind: Sunday night is only the prelude to Monday morning; as well as that I only got four scores right on the football coupon

I must say that I had high expectations about this movie because of solid cast and what it seemed interesting story in Hitchcock way. We've got ordinary man (Dr. Isaac Barr) who founds himself in strange situations and also blond female characters (both Heather and Diana). Also the end, the lighthouse, the fall of Heather Evans is a copy of Hitchcock style. I must say, after watching movie, that this is very bad movie. Beside Eric Roberts, who is always good as bad guy, all other actors are just acting it through (Gere was awful, Basinger funny when she tried to be bad and Thurman had nothing to act). Script was written on so stupid way that we've got numerous inversions but in a very predictable and dull way, so I waited finally to end. Very big disappointment for me and poor Hitchcock must be turning in his grave.

"Final Analysis" is a moody and stylish psychological thriller in which murder, manipulation and deceit figure strongly and the numerous plot twists just keep on coming, right up to the final scene. It's also one of the most visually stunning neo-noirs ever made and in this context, the contributions of art director Dean Tavoularis and cinematographer Jordan Cronenweth are very significant and worthy of high praise. The opening credit sequence immediately makes it clear that "Final Analysis" is influenced both in its style and content by some of the great film noirs of the past (most notably "Vertigo" but also to a lesser extent "Double Indemnity" and "A Place In The Sun") and in common with these types of movies, it contains a typically gullible man, numerous double crosses and characters with unclear motives who may not be all that they seem. Dr Isaac Barr (Richard Gere) is an eminent psychiatrist who regularly acts as an expert defence witness in court cases where the accused pleads insanity in order to avoid a heavy sentence. At the same time, in his private practice, he has a patient called Diana Baylor (Uma Thurman) who is seeking his help because she's struggling to deal with some traumatic childhood memories. Diana suggests that it may help the progress of her treatment if Dr Barr could discuss some aspects of her background with her sister. Barr is initially reluctant to take up Diana's suggestion but when he subsequently meets her sister, Heather Evans (Kim Basinger), the couple soon become involved in a passionate affair. Heather is unhappily married to a sadistic gangster called Jimmy Evans (Eric Roberts) and also suffers from a condition called "pathological intoxication" which makes her become crazy and violent when she consumes even a very small amount of alcohol. When she attacks Jimmy and kills him and her medical condition is a factor, Dr Barr uses his expertise and connections to save her from the full force of the law. Unfortunately for the doctor, this success is no consolation for the trouble that he encounters when he starts to realise that he may have been set up to be the fall guy as the missing murder weapon could provide evidence of his involvement in the crime. Richard Gere is very suave and self assured as the very successful doctor who's used to being given a great deal of respect. Consistent success and respect can make those who are not vigilant develop an excess of pride and arrogance and can in turn have an adverse effect on their judgement. Dr Barr goes off the rails spectacularly when he gets involved with Heather and breaches the rules of his profession without any apparent concern. Kim Basinger and Uma Thurman are both good as the treacherous and devious sisters and Eric Roberts is especially effective as the vicious and fiercely jealous victim. This glamorous thriller is well written with some very quotable lines and is extremely easy of the eye. It's thoroughly absorbing, great fun to watch and should be regarded as essential viewing for all neo-noir fans.

This movie does start a little bit slow, but it builds up in its suspense and intensity. The way the story is told you do not even highly suspect that anything is wrong until it comes out. The plot twists and turns are enough to keep you on the edge of your seat. This is the kind of movie Alfred Hichcock would have made had he still been living in 1992. At one point the background looks like it is straight out of "Vertigo". The music score even sounds like Bernard Herrmann. This is a very entertaning suspense thriller that "The Master" would have been proud of, and I'm shure many will find entertaning. " Final Analysis " makes for a great night' entertainment.