Silly but quite fun

mjtsmm2027

This came out at the time when there was something of a plethora of 'home invasion' thrillers, presumably as a result of the phenomenal success of Fatal Attraction. There we had the mistress from hell, closely followed by the tenant from hell in Pacific Heights; the policeman from hell in Unlawful Entry; the roommate from hell in Single White Female and the husband from hell in Deceived. All followed a similar formula including the predictable thrill-a-minute denouement, which clearly ruined Fatal Attraction. The Hand that rocks the Cradle was a sizeable hit at the time and certainly featured a pretty unnerving performance from DeMornay, who it appeared would go on to have the kind of box office pull that the likes of Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan and Geena Davies were having at the time. It never really happened and I believe she's stuck on some American TV show like ER - poor thing. This thriller does have quite a neat little screenplay even though it is more involving earlier on when DeMornay's more subtle methods of undermining the nuclear family's stability are quite cleverly done. However it soon degenerates into bog standard American thriller territory and less face it, any film whose principle message is don't mess with the nuclear family, deserves some scorn. There is a dreadful supporting character of a black retard who you know will somehow save the day as soon as you see him in the opening shot. A dreadful stereotype. Also the husband is quite faintly ridiculous. Have you ever seen a more sensitive and sickly sweet husband in cinema history? When he gets knocked down towards the end of the film and states 'I can't move my legs are broken' and yet appears to be in no agony at all, you realise his role is barely perfunctory. Obviously the whole thing is very unbelievable - how she was able to become a nanny within just 6 months of losing her husband and the baby is extraordinary, and at no point in the film was she aware that the husband occasionally smoked and yet she used the friends' lighter as a plant to cause havoc at the surprise party. So yes, plenty of holes in it but hey, its' an American film so no European will watch it expecting intelligence I guess.

score 5/10

mjtsmm2027 20 December 2004

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0982067/