Gone Girl + The Game = Basic Instinct

Seduction. Manipulation. Tension. This movie does the perfect job of casting just the right amount of doubt and uncertainty in the audiences’ mind. I’m always in for a clever and sexy detective story. While some moments and performances are over-the-top, the plots twists and cast chemistry kept me fully intrigued. The best movies are those that have a villain who’s always one step ahead. 

Sharon Stone is one of the only people in the history of cinema who could have played this role. She is exactly the right levels of sexy, intelligent, evil, and believable. It’s totally reasonable to see guys be so easily manipulated by her. Stone is irresistible. It is mind blowing to me that she has not had a bigger career. Michael Douglas is also great. This performance feels so closely tied to his in The Game as he tries to unravel a mysterious plot and avoid death. Jeanne Tripplehorn is pleasantly surprising while Georgie Dzundza is bad. Like really bad. 

The choice to hide the face during the opening murder tells you exactly what you need to know but not anything more than that. Throughout the film, my brain spent so much time trying to figure out what was going on (much like Nick) and this is all a direct result of a perfect introduction. The interrogation scene is such a cultural moment. It’s interesting to learn about Stone slapping Verhoeven after finally seeing the film because she had been ‘mislead.’ After this iconic sequence, there are some longgg sex scenes and some classic detective work. Anytime Stone and Douglas are together is exciting and tension filled. The elevator scene is very suspenseful and the closing shot is AMAZING. One of the best endings ever. 

“He got off before he got off”

“What are you gonna do, charge me with smoking?”

“Why risk it?”
“To see if I can get away with it”

“She got that magna cum laude pussy on her that done fried your brain!”

✅75%