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.

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.

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.

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?

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.