Roger Ebert gave the film one and a half stars.
Ebert called it a slasher movie in disguise, an upmarket version of the old exploitation formula where the victim can run but she can't hide.
One host would not get mad at a one-and-a-half-star rating for this film.
A host says that is why they give it three stars.

Most Rewatchable Scene

Dinner scene; sailing accident through the flashback escape; YWCA phone call; carnival scene; ending when she realizes he is in the house; bus apple scene

In the discussion (12)

Approx. transcript time · 00:26:26Read transcript

The neighbor-doctor boat conversation is flagged as a really important scene rather than the most rewatchable; knowing what comes next makes it scary.
The dinner scene is rewatchable: they have made up but she hates him and is angling for a way out, and their exchange about her sneaking off to a funeral ends with 'That would make you a monster.'
The dinner exchange is a chess match that shows resistance brewing in her; before it she shows only fear and deference, and here she gives some back.
In the boat scene the husband never confronts the neighbor he suspects and even accepts his invitation, showing he is a coward who only attacks someone ill-equipped to fight back, which is compared to real domestic abuse.
The sailing accident, funeral and flashback escape are lumped together; the storm is so well shot the actors seem in danger, and they are doing everything wrong by sitting at the front of the boat.
One participant has never been on a small boat, calls it Cape Cod whiteness, and would not get on that boat at night; the other would not either.
Though anti-narration, one participant likes the narration here; realizing she broke the light on purpose is a voila moment, and the whole sequence is called incredibly watchable.
Next rewatchable scene: the husband gets the call from the YWCA lady, with a 360-degree camera move before he breaks the phone, tears through the house and finds the ring.
The YWCA lady is roasted for giving everything away; the scene is rewatchable but annoying, and she should have connected the bruises, the 'gymnastics', the swimming lessons and the drowning and called the police.
The carnival scene is really good and well shot, the peak Patrick Bergin face as he watches from afar like the head-exploding guy in Scanners.
The ending where she realizes he is in the house, with the creepy song, the towels and the canned goods, shows the crazy ramping up to a Nightmare on Elm Street-level villain.
The woman on the bus sharing the apple is another pick, called quietly one of the most empowering scenes because she tells her story aloud for the first time, in the third person, to a stranger; the other participant agrees completely.

What’s Aged the Best?

The house; the title; Julia Roberts' look; the VersaClimber; the 'reminding' line as a litmus test; the mullet-beard combo; the husband's death scene; the villain-isn't-dead moment

In the discussion (11)

Approx. transcript time · 00:39:40Read transcript

The house is amazing and would be put against any movie house; nobody is wrong for staring at it.
The house was a fake exterior built in an environmentally sensitive beach-grass zone on condition it be torn down and the land restored; materials were donated to Anderson County, South Carolina, and removal cost another $25,000.
It seems to pop straight out of the beach because it did, and would never exist in real life; shooting in South Carolina was probably cheaper than Massachusetts.
The title is way up there with Fatal Attraction as a quality title.
Julia Roberts has never looked better in a film, called Apex Julia from a look standpoint; the college-age speaker jokes about committing murder to date her.
The VersaClimber the husband uses early on, later associated with LeBron James and Evander Holyfield's cardio, had a 30-year run.
'We all forget things. That's what reminding is for' works as a litmus test: if someone you are dating says it, break up with them.
The new boyfriend's Jagr (ASR 'Yarmiery Jagger') mullet plus beard only worked in a six-month window around 1991; the mullet is compared to Nickelback, mocked now but hot then, and being saved by a mullet made him an early-90s hero.
Kid Rock is offered as another example of someone insisting how hot he once was.
The husband's death scene is funny if you watch how he reacts to the shot.
The 'is he dead?' horror moment where the villain jerks back up, as in Fatal Attraction, has aged best because movies still do it.

What’s Aged the Worst?

The song; the West Side Story scene (disputed); pre-O.J. domestic-violence awareness

In the discussion (5)

Approx. transcript time · 00:48:23Read transcript

The song is 'not doing well on Spotify these days'.
Everything about the West Side Story scene is nominated: it has not aged well for people under 30 like producer Craig, and introducing the heartthrob singing it while playing with a hose was a weird choice.
Rebuttal: the West Side Story scene is actually perfect because it marks him as the safe, playful drama teacher, in a trope where the rich Wall Street man has a dark side and the true good guy is an everyman.
Pre-O.J. awareness of domestic violence: had the film come out in 1996, bruises explained as gymnastics would be received differently and it would be more far-fetched that he could get away with it.
Agreement: abusers were then treated as an aside and athletes were back on the team the next day; this movie was among the first to show such abuse can end in a dead body.

Casting What-Ifs

Jane Fonda; Kim Basinger

In the discussion (2)

Approx. transcript time · 00:51:36Read transcript

Julia's role was originally written for Jane Fonda; 'Not Bridget?' is asked in response.
The book may have come out in 1987; Kim Basinger turned down the part, then Julia's schedule freed up and they cut her a big check.

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

Kevin Anderson

In the discussion (2)

Approx. transcript time · 00:53:18Read transcript

No That Guy really jumps out; new boyfriend Kevin Anderson, whose other work cannot be named, is 'the guy from this movie' and felt to be the guy for this category.
The woman who gave her the apple seemed familiar, but a lookup found nothing else.

The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award

Patrick Bergin

In the discussion (1)

Approx. transcript time · 00:53:34Read transcript

There is only one candidate, Patrick Bergin, who dials it up a thousand different times.

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

No clear choice

In the discussion (5)

Approx. transcript time · 00:54:06Read transcript

With no heat check found, the award goes for the first time to the casting director for not having a single Black person in the movie; fast-forwarding through the party scene found none.
Response: the character could not have had Black friends, since a Black friend or her husband would have intervened, and the new boyfriend could not have been Black either; the bus lady or a nurse could have been.
The nurse the husband gets information from is recognized as the actress who played the hot chick in Groundhog Day.
One participant, speaking only for Black people they know, is okay not being in this one; a Black YWCA lady would have made it a completely different phone call.
The segment closes with no heat-check winner, unless it goes to the lady with the apple for her knowing glances at Julia.

Recasting Couch

Mullet George Clooney as the new boyfriend

In the discussion (2)

Approx. transcript time · 00:57:00Read transcript

The mullet-beard boyfriend has to be recast; young Thelma & Louise-era Brad Pitt as the drama teacher with a goatee is floated but may be too good looking.
Early George Clooney, four years before ER and with a mullet, is chosen: the movie is better with mullet George Clooney.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Nancy Price novel; Abbeville racism controversy; real marble-floor head injury; NC-17 cut; Symphonie fantastique meaning; grueling ocean shoot

In the discussion (11)

Approx. transcript time · 00:57:42Read transcript

The film was based on the novel of the same name by Nancy Price.
Julia Roberts caused a controversy after leaving Abbeville, South Carolina, calling it a living hell and horribly racist; after a rebuttal ad in Variety she clarified she meant a Black friend being refused service with her at an Abbeville restaurant, saying she was shocked such treatment still existed in the 90s.
The source is old Premiere magazines bought on eBay during the pandemic, which devoted multiple paragraphs to the controversy.
The controversy should be a bigger part of her celebrity; in 1991 there was no such thing as being woke. — Van Lathan
Stars then aimed to avoid controversy at all times, David Duke had recently been a serious governor contender in the speaker's home state, and speaking up took guts.
She doubled down when challenged; good on her.
When he hits her she really hit her head on the marble floor and has a swollen black eye in the next scene.
The film was initially NC17 because of the sex scene and was cut to an R; the European version has the whole scene.
The Symphonie Fantastique is about a young man on opium who dreams of killing his girlfriend, is executed and ends up in hell.
Premiere reported a grueling shoot: the director said Julia was on the edge of hysteria for the five days of the domestic-violence scene, and she described fighting the ocean current at 3 a.m. on her third straight movie while the director stayed dry on his barge, adding it was a miracle she was not in Tijuana.
That is called shade on the director; there was no water tank for the biggest star in the world, and on screen they are clearly really in the water.

Apex Mountain

Julia Roberts (disputed); fake Cape Cod houses; Patrick Bergin; Kevin Anderson; Cedar Falls, Iowa; the Jagr haircut

In the discussion (9)

Approx. transcript time · 01:03:15Read transcript

Julia Roberts: Pretty Woman was previously called her Apex, but this $175 million hit could be argued; her career gets spotty afterward with I Love Trouble and The Pelican Brief until My Best Friend's Wedding and Erin Brockovich.
For hot Julia Roberts, this film is called her apex and is countered with My Best Friend's Wedding, when she was closer to 30; some prefer Mystic Pizza or Steel Magnolias. No agreed answer.
My Best Friend's Wedding is also an obsession movie; which character is crazier, her role there or this husband, is called close.
Fake Cape Cod houses: absolutely.
Patrick Bergin, who had this and a second Robin Hood movie the same year: yes.
Kevin Anderson: yes.
From Hell movies: this film's success arguably led to the next 30 years, but Fatal Attraction is probably the Apex Mountain for From Hell movies because it was the best.
Cedar Falls, Iowa: no better apex can be named; she did not move far enough and should have rented a house with a fence, but the town seems pleasant and very Americana.
The Jagr haircut is clearly Apex Mountain.

Picking Nits

Surprise storm; crowding the bow at night; unhealed scab timeline; spared boat captain; flushed ring; route to the bus station; disguise and nursing-home search; husband's leave from work

In the discussion (8)

Approx. transcript time · 01:05:56Read transcript

Nobody on the boat knows a storm is coming although forecasts would have; the captain says he does not know where the weather is coming from and should have known hours earlier.
They all huddle at the front of the boat, which even a non-boater knows not to do, and nobody should sail at 9 p.m.
At dinner with the mullet hero she still has the scab from being hit, so the Massachusetts-to-Iowa bus trip, fixing the house and meeting him all fit into about two weeks; too much story. Called very fair points.
The grudge-holding husband would surely go after the boat captain for not checking the weather.
Why flush the ring instead of keeping it, throwing it in the ocean or pawning it in Cedar Falls, and why not check that it flushed? Maybe it was symbolic.
How did she get from her house to the bus station? A cab would be traceable and walking might take an hour while they searched.
Why dress as a man to visit her blind mother? So nobody would know it was her, though since the nursing home had moved he should not have found it; he did by offering people 10 grand. Doesn't add up.
What leave of absence did the high-powered husband take from work, with accounts to handle and no cell phones?

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

10-episode Netflix show; American Psycho universe version; all-Black remake with Zendaya

In the discussion (7)

Approx. transcript time · 01:11:15Read transcript

A 10-episode Netflix show: of course, probably better, since it could explain some things.
Asked about an all-Black cast, one participant says you could but would rather fold it into the American Psycho universe, with the husband as one of Patrick Bateman's investment-banker friends, since those books all interconnect.
For an all-Black remake Zendaya plays the Julia Roberts role; she seemed maybe too young until producer Craig points out Julia was 24 in the movie and Zendaya is 24 now; seeing her in danger, as on Euphoria, would make viewers invested.
The husband is the toughest part: no star like Michael B. Jordan would take it, so it has to be a no-name actor.
Jermaine Fowler, from Sorry to Bother You and Coming 2 America, would be cast as the new boyfriend.
There are said to be even odds the remake comes out in the next two and a half years, and with Zendaya it would be huge even on HBO Max or Netflix.
Where she goes: not Cedar Falls; options include Louisiana, Atlanta (too trite) and Gary, Indiana, before settling on Austin, where people from L.A. go when they are sick of L.A.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

How long the new couple lasted; the pistol-whipped boyfriend; dating Julia through all this; LeBron's VersaClimber; her inheritance; the Boston-Cape Cod commute

In the discussion (6)

Approx. transcript time · 01:12:16Read transcript

How long did the mullet guy and Laura date after the killing? Maybe three weeks; after fighting her ex he would want to just be friends.
One participant's wife always gets mad that the boyfriend, knocked out by the pistol whip, only woke up after everything was over.
Asked whether, having said he would commit murder to date Julia Roberts, he would go through all this to date her in 1991, the answer is yes, pistol whip included.
Was LeBron's VersaClimber phase in Miami inspired by this movie? Could have been.
Did she inherit the husband's money since they never divorced? The 'five months later' coda could have shown her with the biggest house in Cedar Falls or creating a house for battered women; faking your death may be illegal, but with witnesses she probably got the money, unless his will said something crazy.
The husband works in Boston but commutes home to Cape Cod, which is an hour and a half to over two hours each way; a geography cheat.

What Piece of Memorabilia Would You Want From This Movie?

VersaClimber or the half-eaten bus apple; the wedding statue

In the discussion (2)

Approx. transcript time · 01:16:17Read transcript

Either the VersaClimber or the half-eaten apple from the bus scene.
The statue from their wedding that he throws through the window so he can climb through and yell 'Laura!'; called actually good.

Who Won the Movie?

Julia Roberts

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 01:16:49Read transcript

These are always a struggle, but you have to go Julia Roberts.
There is a case for the villain as one of the best villains in these movies.
The hockey-player look might have won: the mullet-beard boyfriend and Bergin's thick mustache and fluffy top match NHL haircuts from 1990-91, and Bergin would be the helmetless player, identified as Craig MacTavish (ASR 'McTavish').
Agreement that Julia Roberts won: making the seventh-highest-grossing movie of 1991 with this plot and this many holes is really something.

Podcast choices

Speaker not identified: Julia Roberts
Speaker not identified: Julia Roberts

More from the conversation

A trailer-style cold open for Sleeping With the Enemy plays before the hosts start talking.

Approx. transcript time · 00:01:36Read transcript

The episode came about after 1991 female-empowerment movies such as Terminator 2, Thelma & Louise and The Silence of the Lambs came up on the Terminator 2 podcast, and mentioning Sleeping With the Enemy made the co-host's eyes light up.

Approx. transcript time · 00:01:57Read transcript

The film is framed as a 'Mulligan movie': the next release after someone becomes an A-plus lister, which people will see and forgive even if it is mediocre. Examples offered: Eddie Murphy's Best Defense, Leo's The Beach, Macaulay Culkin after Home Alone, Stallone's Paradise Alley after Rocky, a Vin Diesel film (eventually identified as A Man Apart), and Liam Neeson's Unknown after Taken.

Approx. transcript time · 00:02:26Read transcript

Julia Roberts was the biggest actress in the world after Pretty Woman; Flatliners came out next but was already filmed, so this was the first Julia vehicle, and it has had 30 years of legs.

Approx. transcript time · 00:03:47Read transcript

The film's staying power is explained as a Lifetime movie on steroids with upgraded talent; Sally Field's Not Without My Daughter is recalled as a similar movie that family members watched and used to talk about how trash men are, and this film is called a kind of hood classic.

Approx. transcript time · 00:04:31Read transcript

The 'From Hell' era, a term first heard from Wesley Morris, began with Fatal Attraction in 1987: Pacific Heights (tenant), Sleeping With the Enemy (husband), The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (nanny), Unlawful Entry (policeman), Single White Female (roommate), The Good Son, The Temp, The Crush and Disclosure (boss), later becoming network TV movies with 90210 and Melrose Place actors and eventually a Lifetime genre.

Approx. transcript time · 00:05:58Read transcript

Relatives watched Fatal Attraction as a 'men ain't shit' movie because the husband cheated, while this film lets viewers throw themselves fully into a protagonist who never makes a mistake against an all-consuming evil husband who plays foreboding music before sex.

Approx. transcript time · 00:07:46Read transcript

Patrick Bergin's husband is what sets the film apart: completely terrifying, pure evil and over the top, comparable only to Rebecca De Mornay's nanny in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.

Approx. transcript time · 00:10:07Read transcript

Like Robert Patrick after T2, Bergin was hard to accept in other roles; he is described as part abusive husband, part Freddy Krueger and part Batman-level detective, and his Robin Hood the same year could not compete with Kevin Costner's.

Approx. transcript time · 00:11:05Read transcript

The movie was not well reviewed but made $175 million on a $19 million budget and was the seventh biggest movie of 1991, attributed to Julia Roberts being the biggest star in the world.

Approx. transcript time · 00:12:53Read transcript

Julia Roberts is said to never look better in a movie, to be litigated later; seeing America's sweetheart get hit was a gasp moment in theaters and makes the audience invested immediately.

Approx. transcript time · 00:13:42Read transcript

In the doctor-and-boat scene the neighbor only says he admired the house and saw the wife at the window; the husband turns that pleasant conversation into a reason to destroy her, and the movie is 'made right there'. Unlike older abuse stories that blamed drink or drugs, this husband is none of those things.

Approx. transcript time · 00:14:28Read transcript

The 'From Hell' gimmick moved from mainstream films to TV movies to Lifetime, and now lives in movies with all-Black casts over the last five or six years, with Michael Ealy in about half of them (e.g. Fatal with Hilary Swank, which features a Lance Stephenson cameo), plus Obsession, and the Beyonce movie with Ali Larter as the Glenn Close figure; in about 75% of them the white person is the villain, and they make money every time.

Approx. transcript time · 00:15:17Read transcript

The whole lineage is said to start with Fatal Attraction but really with Sleeping With the Enemy, because it made a ton of money and showed the formula only needed one star.

Approx. transcript time · 00:18:25Read transcript

The husband's OCD (misaligned bath towels, canned-good labels not facing forward) is the final touch making him a psycho; the abusive part is that he marches her back to point out the towels, and his line 'we all forget things, that's what reminding is for' is singled out as the creepiest phrasing.

Approx. transcript time · 00:18:51Read transcript

Patrick Bergin was born in Dublin, and his Irish phrasing of words like quarrel, supper and pout adds to the character.

Approx. transcript time · 00:20:16Read transcript

Director Joseph Ruben's run is read off: Dreamscape, The Stepfather, True Believer, Sleeping With the Enemy, The Good Son and Money Train, called a 10-year run; both hosts declare themselves Money Train fans.

Approx. transcript time · 00:20:34Read transcript

Money Train is called a coming-out film for mid-90s Jennifer Lopez, who first stood out as a dancer on In Living Color.

Approx. transcript time · 00:20:50Read transcript

Jennifer Lopez's Enough (2002) is her version of this film, like a superhero origin story ending with Krav Maga; it is called a better movie overall with a weaker villain, while this film's first half is better than its second. Jennifer Garner's Peppermint is called terrible but watchable.

Approx. transcript time · 00:21:48Read transcript

Bergin's casting inverts the tall, dark and handsome leading-man archetype of Cary Grant, Rock Hudson and Burt Reynolds, like an anti-Christopher Reeve, turning the archetype on its head as a villain.

Approx. transcript time · 00:23:29Read transcript

Despite negative reviews, the film made $175 million, broke the record for highest domestic opening for a female-centric film with $13 million, and ended Home Alone's 12-week run at number one.

Approx. transcript time · 00:24:29Read transcript

Using the composer's piece that plays in the film (composer ASR 'Hector Burley Oates') was Patrick Bergin's idea.

Approx. transcript time · 00:52:05Read transcript

Producer Craig passed along that Patrick Bergin married about a year after the film came out, prompting jokes about how anyone could marry him after this role.

Approx. transcript time · 00:52:23Read transcript

Bergin never got a get-back role, unlike Danny Glover, whom a parent would not accept after The Color Purple until he came back as the lovable Murtaugh.

Approx. transcript time · 00:53:03Read transcript

The movie was missing a Cape Cod Baseball League scene in which the husband accuses her over one of the pitchers.

Approx. transcript time · 01:15:59Read transcript

Closing plug: Higher Learning with Rachel Lindsay is being supersized this month, adding a Wednesday interview show with Bawa first and Keith Stanfield (ASR 'Stansfield') next week.

Approx. transcript time · 01:22:08Read transcript