Maryam d'Abo in An American Affair (1997)

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Review

Laughably convoluted grade-b political intrigue which combines various supernatural elements, people who can breathe underwater for fifteen minutes (literally), double crosses in romance and politics, sleazy talk, misfilmed and incomprehensible action sequences, and virtually no nudity even though people are making love constantly.

Only one thing I need to ask you. How good do you think a movie can be when Corbin Bernsen is billed above the title.

What more is there to say?

Bernsen reaches for some new acting depths in this film, as he throws several tantrums, and slaps himself in the head any time somebody surprises him (D'oh!).

He's a DA who sleeps with one girl, then marries her best friend, but keeps having an affair with the original woman. Or were the two women just testing him? Then he kills his wife, but she comes back from the dead. (Her mystical yoga powers allow her to stop her own heartbeat.)

And then the wife helps a political rival set him up or something. It all involves false deaths and guns that fire blanks and I don't know what else because I got so bored with it.

If MST3K were still on the air, they would be doing this film. The script is poor, the direction is worse (the hot technique: people walking toward, then past, a stationary camera, and we see a shoulder occupy the whole screen as they pass - exactly the same technique I used to use when I made my own videos and had nobody to hold the camera!), and the acting is worst of all.

Per IMDb, the director has never directed anything else, neither of the writers has ever written anything else.

And if I got a vote, it would stay that way.

Nudity Report: Maryam d'Abo briefly shows her nipple in a bathtub scene. There is also an exposed breast from an obvious body double for Jayne Heitmeyer.

IMDB Summary: 3.3 out of 10

DVD Info: No widescreen version, no meaningful features. A trailer and some cheesy filmographie.

Written by: Scoopy ...courtesy of Scoopy.net