Sex and Chips.

rmax304823

In a way, this is the opposite of an LMN movie. A man (Douglas) is accused of sexual harassment by his boss (Moore). But since she was the aggressor he threatens to bring suit against her. The film turns the usual clichés upside down. Douglas finds the incident was accidentally taped on an answering machine, and at the mediation everyone hears him telling Moore "No." "Doesn't 'no' mean 'no'"?, Douglas's lawyer (a woman) asks Moore? And later at the meeting we hear Douglas's lawyer come up with, "Sexual harassment is not about sex. It's about power." That's what's known as high-concept film making, but it's not all that simple. There's additional skulduggery involved, an attempt to sabotage Douglas's career as production manager at a computer company in Seattle.

The direction, by Barry Levinson, is up to his usual standard, which is pretty good, though his forte lies in remarking small quotidian moments rather than complicated technical drama. The acting is competent too. There was, however, a dolorous moment at the end when Douglas exposes Moore's trickery in public and when she objects furiously he smirks at her like a third-grade kid who just squealed on a classmate.

If there is a problem it is with the script. The story seems bifurcated. The two schemes to torpedo Douglas are only tenuously connected. Either one -- the sexual harassment business or the sabotaging of Douglas's production line -- would have been movies unto themselves. And for the most part, the dialog is functional and flat, empty of verve, except for one angry outburst by the victimized Douglas who does a neat turn while pointing out that nobody believes him because he is a stereotypical white male. Oh, and one or two other lines. When Douglas is about to sue the company they offer him a "lateral move" to Austin. Donald Sutherland, the boss, gets a nifty observation: "AUSTIN? That's like a duck making a lateral move to 'a l'orange.'"

Worth seeing. Imaginative and picturesque.

score 6/10

rmax304823 26 June 2006

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1402542/