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6 out of 6 people found the following review useful: Bill gives film noir a go, 16 November 2002 Author: Philby-3 from Sydney, Australia
Bill Bennett is one of those directors, like Stanley Kubrick, who insists on trying out different genres just to see if he can do it; hence his Australian road movie `Kiss or Kill', his period anthropological drama `In a Savage Land' (set in the Trobriand Islands), his broad ocker comedy `The Nugget' and this one, an example of film noir set in New Orleans (Melbourne would be a bit more of a challenge). He also apparently saved on the script by getting the actors to improvise, a risk of course that Kubrick never took. His actors are fortunately professional and experienced, if not big names, (Burt Reynolds is the most prominent) and rise to the occasion, more or less, though some of the sex scenes required unusual agility to avoid injury.Charlie Le Blanc, a successful builder (Burt Reynolds), has been told he hasn't long to live (something nasty in his brain), and has become obsessed with the idea that his beautiful ex-model wife Lilly (Saffron Burrows), 30 years younger, may not be faithful to him and therefore not be worthy of the fortune she will inherit. So he engages Jimmy (Peter Facinelli), one of his carpenters (who also happens to be working his way through law school) to test her out for a $50,000 fee. Jimmy, with an indeterminate accent but helped by Tom Cruise-ish good looks, has little trouble cracking the case, so to speak, but things start to go wrong after Jimmy tells his gay friend Ted (Eric Mabius) about the deal. Naturally, Charlie has engaged a private eye to videotape everything and we soon have lots of incriminating evidence on tape – the American obsession with recording everything strikes again. The police never had it so easy.Although the plot's twists and turns lose the viewer occasionally, it's a reasonably absorbing thriller with the appropriately noir atmosphere. Filming in N'orlands as the locals call it, makes this easy of course, though as an ex-resident I think the place's sleaziness is much over-emphasised. Despite the majority black population I think there is only one black speaking part in the movie, another handsome building worker approached to do Charlie's job who is dismissed as being a bit uppity – another great Southern cliche. I would recommend avoiding the famous above-ground cemeteries at night, though. It's not the Vampires you have to worry about, just local hoodlums, who are invariably armed. La Fayette number one is a particularly bad spot and sure enough our characters march right into it.Burt Reynolds is fine as Charlie, whose ruthlessness is not quite offset by his charm (Burt, being born in Georgia, has no trouble with the southern accent.) Saffron Burrows – stick insect as sexpot – is mostly convincing and Peter Facinelli may lack Tom Cruise's intensity, but he handles his role OK. The acting honours I think go to Mike Starr who plays a supporting character, Charlie's sidekick, the mountainous Dot Collins, a fine example of a family man who will do terrible things in the name of loyalty – John Goodman as Oddjob.
9 out of 12 people found the following review useful: Sexy thriller with a great cast. Worth your time., 18 November 2003 Author: Fat_Boy99 (fat.mobster@gmail.com) from LISBON
Tempted is a nice little movie with all the right ingredients. Hot sex scenes, not too explicit but very sexy, funny dialogues, great acting and an interesting story even if not too original. There are some plot-holes but nothing that could ruin the fun. It has a nice rhythm saving us from being bored or looking at the clock as happens so often today with even big blockbusters.Burt Reynolds gives us a great performance as the evil, sinister Charlie. I only wish he had more screen time. He's a rich powerful man married to this gorgeous young woman whom he loves very much. However Charlie only has a few months to live so he decides to test his wife's loyalty to see if she really deserves his fortune after he dies. To do so he hires Jimmy, a young innocent law student to seduce her. Jimmy desperately needs the money so he accepts. Of course things never go as planned and soon everybody finds out they're playing a very dangerous game. Saffron Burrows is perfect. She is amazingly beautiful and she delivers one of the most sexy performances ive seen in a long time. There´s even some skin and boy do we love it. The rest of the cast do their job well. Especially a very funny Mike Starr as Dot. This guy deserves some recognition. Great supporting actor.The movie is set in New Orleans, which makes it even more exotic. I love these locations and they're the right choice as background for this story.Tempted is not a great movie. Its has some flaws of course. But its very entertaining has a wonderful cast and a mysterious, interesting story that keeps us watching. A great surprise. A sexy thriller that gives us everything it promises.
5 out of 5 people found the following review useful: I want to believe I can trust her...So I want to pay you to seduce my wife, 23 April 2007 Author: Jessica Kolk from Brazil
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Charlie Le Blanc is a wealthy businessman married to a beautiful and young woman named Lilly, whom he loves very much. They have a great life, but Charlie discovers that he has only a few months to live, and decides to test Lilly's fidelity to see if she really deserves all of his money. He then hires a young guy called Jimmy, a handsome law student, to seduce his wife. He will pay Jimmy 40.000 dollars, and since Jimmy really needs this money for his university, he accepts the deal.Eventually, all Jimmy's efforts to sleep with Lilly fails. She is truly loyal to her husband. But when Lilly discovers (by Charlie's secretary) what her husband was trying to do, a very dangerous game starts to begin.I expected much more from ''Tempted'',specially after reading about the plot. In the beginning, the movie is good, but after the middle of it becomes very cheap. The only reason I give a higher rate for it, is because I liked Burt Reynolds performance. The rest of the movie is a big cliché, with average script and actors(except Burt), and even some awkward situations.
3 out of 4 people found the following review useful: Intriguing, 29 May 2005 Author: rink_g (rink_g@yahoo.fr) from Brussels
Well,as i don't have a TV yet in my new place i rent movies pretty much and i picked Tempted today. The combination of Burt Reynolds and Saffron Burrows in the same movie made me wonder how it would be like and the story looked interesting so i had a go and must say i quite liked it...In fact i think i want to see it again to have a closer look at it but so far so good. It's one of those movies where you need to scratch your head to fully understand the motivation of the characters and after you see it, you are still trying to figure it out:why did he/she do that? The whole cast is interesting but i must say that Burt Reynolds was a surprise as we don't see him that often in movies anymore and it's disturbing me.. but i still don't know if it's in a good or bad way... His character in the movie being obsessive might as well fit the fact that we are not used to see him acting that way.. Saffron Burrows's character Lilly is enigmatic and as far as i am concerned she does a pretty good job. And Peter Facinelli is the victim in all this. Never saw him before but he convinced me pretty much even tho i was also distracted by his good look..What i liked about the movie and makes it interesting is the improvisation of the actors.It's unusual and hard,so i give an A+ for that.The movie was shot in New-Orleans,it gives a mysterious and dangerous aura to it..Seems like you can feel the moisture if you know what i mean..Well,see it for yourself is my advice,you might be amazingly surprised.
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful: The Saturn Bar, NOLA, 2 November 2007 Author: Robin Dorantes (robinewf@hotmail.com) from United States
Saw this film, by chance, one lazy Saturday afternoon, while just "couch-potatoing/channel surfing"...glad I was...Being from The Big EZ, it peaked my interest, not to mention the very colorful array of characters! Now... here's the thing: There was a scene in this movie, where Lily & Mulate meet up at a bar, called "The Saturn Bar"; I happen to know exactly where this bar is located within the 7th Ward of New Orleans.What I want to know is if that scene was actually filmed at that location, or was it simply a shot from the outside and filmed another location? Does anyone know? Just curious.Aside from that, I think I'll purchase the DVD to add to my New Orleans Colllection of videos. Really steamy and intriguing..~Robin~OH.. & P.S.: It held my attention, surprisingly, all the way to the end! It was Good.
5 out of 9 people found the following review useful: Mediocre crime flick, 7 November 2002 Author: George Parker from Orange County, CA USA
"Tempted" tries to be one of those sweaty New Orleans noir crime flicks about infidelity, jealousy, deceit, temptation, treachery, and murder. Unfortunately the film plays out like a B-flick in all respects from shallow characters whom were not given a reason to care if they live or die to a convoluted and minimally interesting story with soporific side effects. A marginal small screen watch at best for crime junkies only. (D+)
6 out of 11 people found the following review useful: Guilty pleasure., 23 May 2003 Author: fabrizio (nini-@libero.it) from Caluso, Italy.
This isn't for sure a masterpiece or a movie that will leave traces in the future but i have enjoyed it. Saffron Burrows is very sexy and Burt Reynolds is an excellent villain. However the real protagonist of the story is New Orleans (wonderfully photographed).
2 out of 4 people found the following review useful: Original idea, well put., 21 July 2003 Author: Darkmire from Turkey
I found the film nailed me from the beginning, this film has nearly everything a decent film has to have , good-great acting, an original concept, a good trace of the pilot, many turns and twists...See this film without high expectations, its not a classic , but a film that will keep you on your seat while watching it, thats for sure.
2 out of 4 people found the following review useful: Good idea, meandering script, 19 November 2002 Author: Per A. from US Naval Antarctic Station
"Tempted" sounds like a great idea. It's about a wealthy man who hires a young law student to "tempt" his wife, in order for the wealthy man to see if she's loyal to him. Naturally, the wealthy man is crazy jealous, and eventually there are a lot of dead bodies.Burt Reynolds is by far the best actor on this film. For whatever reason Burt has gone through his own marriage troubles and he brings that out in staggering fashion. The movie was worth it because of Burt.However everything ELSE about the film - the other actors, the script, photography, etc. etc. is very average.If there's anything a lower budget film should excel in, it's the script - because that's where you make up for lack of money for the rest of the project. But it was clumsy, overworked, cliched, .. a draft that's been through too many Hollywood "story seminars" - there are too many clunky plot elements in a bland effort to liven things up, when it should have been fixed by sticking to the main story and improving the ACTING, and little details that add to the overall mood.There's a subplot regarding a murder conspiracy that's majorly half-baked - it seems like the start of ANOTHER script by the same writer, but simply not out of the oven yet.Most of the actor's emotions don't track well through the film - except for Burt. The supposed "feelings" between the law student and the wife always come off as hollow. Even when she's supposedly trying to kill him, they have one last sheepish meeting at a bar with awkward dialog - it doesn't make sense. Her motivation for sleeping with him turned out to be interesting though..The movie seems to share a lot in common with "Body Heat" - an 80's film script touted as a winner by the king of script hacks, Syd Field. There's the wealthy husband, the beautiful but dangerous wife, and the morally ambiguous lawyer. The difference? Body Heat kept things simple - and William Hurt played the young lawyer.In summary, watch it for BURT, man that guy can act. I found the whole idea of him creating a "self fulfilling prophecy" fascinating - it's almost like he relentlessly (and fatally) stabs himself emotionally and doesn't know why.
3 out of 7 people found the following review useful: Noir at its greatest, 7 May 2003 Author: dregmobile from Ultimo
You will not be disappointed with TEMPTED. It is a thoroughly entertaining exploration into the seedy world of dark characters whose only purpose in life seems to be to cross the line and just keep going.Burt Reynolds is great as the man suspicious of his wife. Saffron Burrows is perfect as his wife being 'tempted'. And Peter Facinelli is a breakthrough as the young builder enlisted to test his wife's fidelity. The film is suspenseful at every plot turn and twist as the 'test' gets out of hand and our characters are driven closer and closer to the edge. What really makes this film memorable is the way the filmmakers convey the feel of New Orleans. I've never been to the States but when I left the cinema after watching this film I honestly thought I had.***** out of *****
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