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Sleeping with the Enemy poster

Sleeping with the Enemy

year 1991decade 90sdirector Joseph Rubengenre Psychological thrillergenre Drama

97 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Julia Roberts Laura Burney / Sara Waters
Patrick Bergin Martin Burney
Kevin Anderson Ben Woodward
Elizabeth Lawrence Chloe Williams
Kyle Secor Dr. John Fleishman
Claudette Nevins Dr. Rissner

Sleeping with the Enemy | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Van Lathan
Explore episodeClose episode

Producer credits not yet identified.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.
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