Film

Bad Influence (1990)

Director: Curtis Hanson

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Michael Boll (Spader) is up against a rival at work, his fiancée is boring, and he suffers mysterious stomach ailments. So when he meets smoothie Alex (Lowe), a man-about-town of independent means, he's nipping out of his hi-tech flat and into hi-tech discos before you can say 'Faust'. Work improves, sex gets kinkier. Exhausted but satisfied, Michael accepts the fact that his new friend filmed him bonking, but knows things are going too far when he falls over a dead body in his apartment... This vacuous exploration of the perils of greed lacks the intelligence and perspective to work on a subversive level. Hanson indulges in extremely obvious symbolism, and despite attempts to convey Michael's inner conflict, the dangers remain resolutely external. 'I didn't make you do anything that wasn't in you already' says Alex to his protégé. Yawn.

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