Bonnie Bedelia in Needful Things (1993)
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Review
Great directors sense when an actor is right for a part, seeming to ignore the previous performances delivered by that actor. Cases in point: Stanley Kubrick casting Keir Dullea, Quentin Tarantino casting Robert Forster (Forster even ended up with an Oscar nomination).
Although Ed Harris has some pretty good moments in Needful Things, he makes a complete fool of himself in the speechifyin' finale. Max von Sydow - screen icon - has been solid in everything from heavy Swedish drama (The Seventh Seal) to lowbrow English-language comedy (Strange Brew). He's pretty bad here: some lines misread altogether, other lines over-the-top, other lines just odd and distracting, as if he didn't know what they meant.
Max plays Satan. Yes, that same Satan with the whole fallen angel thing on his rap sheet. Instead of languishing in hell with the horns and tail, he's now distinguished looking, running a quaint antique and curio shop which looks like 90% of the buildings in New England. (The other 10% are bed and breakfasts). As befits the lord of darkness, his satanic majesty drives a black car - a Mercedes, to be exact. Max has an accent, and they know he is from out of town, so they ask where he is from. "Akron" he replies. They believe him. I can only surmise that the people of Akron have a very strong regional accent, and that most of them immigrated directly from Jönkoping.
Max's shop includes pretty much anything you want. Are you a kid who collects baseball cards? He has a mint 1956 Mickey Mantle signed to you personally by Mick. Are you a priest? He has the Holy Grail. Gambler? How about a magic machine that predicts the result of every race. You get the idea. What does His Swedish Evilness charge? A couple bucks, and ... a few small things not measurable in currency. Dirty deeds, done dirt cheap. The kinds of things that turn people against each other. EE-VILLLLLLLLLLL, as Richard Burton might say if he still walked among us.
And so forth. The townspeople don't suspect anything is amiss when a guy from "Akron" has their long-lost high school letter jackets, or the Holy Grail, or a board game that can predict the future. They accept completely that they can pick up a Lamborghini for less than a dollar. That's what value is all about, man!
It's based on a Stephen King story, as are most other movies, or so it seems. This film is a C-.
Nudity Report: Bonnie Bedelia plays a long scene in her bra, which offers some (minimal) see-through action.
Critics Vote: Ebert 1.5/4; Berardinelli 2/4.
IMDb Summary: IMDb voters score it 5.7/10.
Box Office: With their dollars: it grossed $15+ million in the USA.
DVD Info: The movie ain't so hot to begin with, but I consider this DVD a major disappointment for another reason as well. This DVD has only the two-hour version, but a three-hour version was aired on TBS, and there is no sign of the additional footage on the disk. NOT recommended. Widescreen format, 1.85 anamorphic. No features.
Written by Scoopy…courtesy of Scoopy.net