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source: Dearly Devoted

Her pale, Saltine skin contrasts from her candy red lipstick, which seems to be the most important prop of the film forget "schindler's list" and "glitter", hollywood should remaster this as a special edition 2 disc collector's set Why didn't she win the Oscar?!?! McGowan has such grace and posture on screen as the late Gloria Stuart (or at least I think she's dead) It's good to know that the now superstar of the hit soap opera "charmed" once was in a hit drama this a perfect cross between "braveheart" and "who's that girl" with a little "from justin to kelly" to throw in for proper measure the scene with clint eastwood will blow you away a love scene has not touched me as well as one has with "psycho" GO ROSE!

I saw this late night on cinemax and thought it to be soft-core because the digital cable guide said it was, but found out that it was basically just a movie with all the bad acting of late night cinemax. Don't really understand why the little added twist that the writers threw in just to come full circle and completely fulfill the cheeziness meter of the movie was used. I think a monkey with a pen could have matched that ending. Sort of interesting knowing that the main actress is twisted enough in real life to marry marilyn manson, but other than that id say this movie had nothing but guilty pleasures ala springer. So if you find yourself alone on a Saturday night because your woman (or man) is at home with the flu and just happen to see this come on hbo or cinemax (i couldn't even imagine trying to stomach any kind of edited version of this thing, then give it a try until you find yourself either asleep or wishing for the flu yourself.

Ever since the phenomenally weird "The Doom Generation" I've had a wicked crush on Rose McGowan. Her natural bad-girl charisma and sexily shaped chin make her one of the most enticing actresses of her generation. Her starring in "Dearly Devoted" was therefore the sole reason I had for checking out the film, as you can already derive from the DVD-cover that it's a standard, by-the-numbers and rehashed nineties thriller. With its main theme of "dangerously seductive teenage femme fatale", "Dearly Devoted" is similar to "Poison Ivy" (starring Drew Barrymore) and "Wild Things" (starring Denise Richards) and almost identical to "The Crush" (starring Alicia Silverstone). Following the suspicious death of Debbie Strand's mother and her lover in a fire, the seemingly confused teenage girl is put under the custody of her strictly Catholic grandmother. At her new school, Debbie doesn't make a whole lot of friends, but she does fall in love with the hunky literature teacher Peter Rinaldi. It quickly becomes obvious that Debbie isn't your average high school girl, but an obsessive and deranged psychopath who kills in order to get what she wants. "Dearly Devoted" is identical to "The Crush" because the male protagonists go through exactly the same hell. They attempt to befriend their jailbait admirers and narrowly resist all the sexual allusions, but when they actually physically reject them down, both their private as professional lives turn into a living nightmare. "Dearly Devoted" is predictable and not at all suspenseful, but at least it's never boring and the female eye-candy compensates for the unoriginality. The twist-in-the-end is not exactly groundbreaking, neither, but at least it managed to trick me for a minute or so. Rose McGowan was 25 years old for this role in which she depicts an underage schoolgirl, but that's alright, because she looks terrific in all those skimpy outfits. Apparently there's also a sequel, but it doesn't star Rose.

Hard to believe so many liked this awful flick. Plot was usual stalker stuff, no surprise there. Stalker being an unattractive teeny bop-per who chases her teacher, a typical LMN leading man that is clueless to all around him. Sir, this bimbo is killing people all around you. This is so unreal as to believability. People missing and two detectives are going around trying to trace a fire years back. One by one this homely bitch does away with her competition. Won't tell you who although I'm tempted just so you won't have to sit through this trivial. Doesn't the neighbor realize their son is missing? That no one sees the grandmother around, etc, etc. Rose McGowan was dreadful and far from attractive for this viewer to believe anyone would want her even for a conversation. Dressed to the nines in short skirts and bras, she's supposed to be a turn on to the guys. Doesn't seem to do her much good. Alex McArthur as the teacher unfortunately had to deal with a stupid plot and equally stupid actress. J C Brandy as his girl friend did much better and brought some reality to force. Peg Shirley as the grandmother was so overacted you had to laugh at her. All others were lost in a losing movie with a loser playing the leading lady. Forget it.

Extremely standard story (high school girl has un-reciprocated crush on teacher, turns psycho, ruins his life) and average acting and scripting do not a quality movie make. The only point of interest in these stories is whether or not the teacher actually sleeps with the student prior to the 'psycho' phase of the movie. Here he does not, so his 'flaw' is limited to a couple of leering glances. Rose McGowan does look pretty good in her halter top / shorts combo, but not enough to justify this movie. Pass.

I really liked this as a piece of late night trashy noir cable junk because it pushed the extremes of bad taste. I saw it late at night and was impressed with the sharp dialog and witty put-downs uttered by its femme fatale protagonist, Debbie Strand (in a wonderfully vampy and campy performance from Rose McGowan). Yes, the set-up is contrived and the outcome is cheesy but along the way I was impressed with the audacity of the film's comic-book nastiness and the sheer determination of the protagonist to get what she wanted. However, what's most disappointing is the end, which merely opens the way for another film, without truly exploring why Debbie Strand did what she did. Another annoying trait in these films is to resolve issues in an unambiguous manner, usually absolving the complicity of the lead male. A simple-minded, formulaic tale saved by Rose McGowan and some witty one-liners. As for the rest, cable fodder.

I love this movie. Back in 98 I was up late watching t.v. and noticed that a movie called DEVIL IN THE FLESH was on. I turned to it and was hooked in an instant. I started watching it because Rose Mcgowan was in it, but it turned out to be great. It was mature, exciting, and funny. I give it a 10/10.