I wasn't very interested in seeing this movie. Cameron Diaz and Harvey Keitel aren't my favorite actors. But I happened to catch a few scenes from the middle, while my daughter was watching it, and was too curious to not rewind and watch from the beginning. Glad I did!

The movie starts out with the same old storyline: a young, beautiful woman (Nathalie played by Diaz), married to an older, jealous Judge (George -- Kietel), is home alone, until she gets a visit from a former lover, (Kent -- Billy Zane.) They have a little fun, fall asleep, and when she tries to wake him up, she realizes he's dead.

Panic hits her. Nathalie knows George is due home, and he's going to explode in jealous rage, if he catches Kent in his bed, dead or alive. She acts quickly, dragging the body to the trap door in the floor, leading to the basement, and shoves the naked body down the steps. But he doesn't go all the way down. His head is sticking up, causing the door to bulge upward slightly. She gets the flowers and candy and sticks them into the fridge. And bundles up Kent's clothes.

George and neighbor/handiman Lance, (Craig Sheffer) in from fishing, and she tries to tell her hubby about the incident, but his chair is positioned above the trap door, frustrating and distracting him. So he bounces on it a few times, to level it......... breaking dead Kent's neck. This "cracking " sound is too much for the Nathalie, so she decides to go for a swim in the lake. Taking the bundled clothes inside her canvas bag, she rows to the middle of the water, and throws the weighted garments in. Then returns home.

When Goerge learns about Kent's death, she tells him it was a heart attack. They decide to keep the body in the shed until later, when they could take it into town and turn it over to the police, explaining the accidental death. That idea fades, whenever they realize they can't explain why the young wife's dead lover, who died of a heart attack, has a broken neck and is naked.

Putting their own interests first, they set out to dispose of the body. Enter Lance, offering to help them with the heavy iron heat-stove they are carrying toward their boat, (to use as a weight for the body.) With his generous help, the stove is dumped into the lake.......... but the dead body is not! From there, the plot twists and turns, making you wonder who is really guilty, if anyone, and what's going to happen next.

If you aren't interested in it by now, you probably never will be. This is far from being the whole story, but it gives enough details that you can decide if you like this type of dark humor. Some people simply aren't interested in stories of hiding a corpse, or the mishaps that turn what could easily have been a dramatic mystery into a dark comedy.

It's adult material, but not seriously graphic. Most of the violence is done by planting the idea in our minds, then changing to another scene, while the deed is done. However, there are a few scenes where Cameron Diaz feels threatened and fights back...........and the one with the cement "overshoes", which you'll have to watch to understand, because I have spilled all the beans I'm going to. There is no full nudity, only the chest of a dead man, being dragged I'd say, if you monitor your children's viewing, but not to the point of restricting them to Disney, you might allow them to watch this one, but you may want to check it out first, to be sure.

You will probably like this, if you've enjoyed:
"Eight Heads In A Duffle Bag"
"Weekend at Bernie's"
"Ed and His Dead Mother"


This isn't my usual choice of stories or actors, but it did make me laugh in a number of places, and it kept me guessing about who did what to whom and why. I wouldn't buy or rent it for myself. But I would get it for my adult daughter.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older