After working an insane amount of overtime for several weeks, I have had some free time again. It had been a while since I had rented a movie, so I stopped and picked up two a few days ago. I had been wanting to see the one for a while and I'd never heard of the other one, Spider's Web before. Something made me pick up the case and it sounded interesting so I decided to get it. The movie ended up being better than I thought it would be.

PLOT

A woman, Lauren Bishop, was having a video conference with someone in Tokyo on her computer. She was sitting there naked except for a robe that wasn’t closed. As she ended her conference, a man walked out of the bedroom and the two started to have sex. The next morning, Lauren was up first and got ready for work. Then she kicked him out.

Lauren stopped to meet Manny, a detective, on her way to work. She had Manny following the owner of a company. She seemed to be happy with the pictures he gave her. Then she went to a business meeting that started late because they had to wait for Clay Harding to arrive. During the meeting, Lauren said some things that her boss didn’t like. After the meeting he fired her. She was upset and ended up going to a bar that evening where a guy named Bob Smooth started hitting on her. She started to brush him off, but agreed to let him buy her a drink when she noticed that Clay was there with a woman. Bob drugged her drink while she was away. He tried to force himself on her when he walked her to his car. Clay showed up and stopped him.

Clay took Lauren home and was still there the next morning when she woke up. They talked some while she wondered around almost naked and took a shower. They talked some more and then started to have sex, but Lauren stopped once she found out that Clay knew she had been fired. They were interrupted again when Lauren received a video call on her computer with good news. Next Lauren was shown using that information to get her job back with a raise and get her boss fired. She met Clay later and talked to him about what she had done. He was impressed.

Lauren and Clay became involved. Clay seemed to be more serious than she was. Lauren had been married before and hurt badly when her husband had left her, so she was very hesitant about getting serious. Clay’s family was wealthy. He didn’t have a good relationship with his father. His dad was always trying to push him into doing different things. Clay did what his dad wanted because his dad controlled the money. Clay suggested that he and Lauren run away together. Lauren didn’t like that idea because she didn’t want to be without money again. She came up with a plan to get forty million dollars from Clay’s father. Clay didn’t want to do it at first, but he came around. They started their plan to get the money. They were taking huge chances. Someone was watching Lauren and even broke into her home. People started to turn up dead and the police got involved.

CAST

Stephen Baldwin - Clay Harding
Kari Wuhrer - Lauren Bishop
Matt Borlenghi - Bob Smooth
Tony Colitti - Detective Nick Perez

Spider’s Web was released in 2001 and was 88 minutes long. The movie is available on DVD and VHS now. I found the movie with the new releases when I rented it. It was rated R for strong sexual content, some violence, and language. No children of any age should see this movie.

I thought that Spider’s Web was an entertaining movie. I never saw any previews for this movie before. I think the movie may have been released direct to video, but I don’t know for sure. I did go looking for the movie to rent. I picked it because it sounded interesting. I didn’t have high expectations for the movie, so I did end up enjoying it. If I’d had higher expectations for the movie, I probably would have been disappointed. Spider’s Web wasn’t the best movie I’ve ever seen, but it was good.

Spider’s Web was a drama with some mystery and romance. Right from the beginning, Lauren was doing some things that didn’t make a lot of sense at the time. It wasn’t always clear why she was doing what she was doing. Clay didn’t have the best relationship with his father, but it wasn’t explained that well why their relationship was so bad. Lauren and Clay’s plan wasn’t a mystery, but what the ultimate outcome of it was. There were several things that kept me guessing. I did figure some things out, but there were other things that I didn’t figure out. The movie wasn’t that suspenseful, but it wasn’t that predictable either. There were only a few aspects of the movie that had any mystery to them. People who want to see a movie with a complex mystery should look elsewhere.

Clay and Lauren met and became involved during Spider’s Web, which provided a small amount of romance for the movie. Most of the time when Clay and Lauren were shown together, there were either having sex or discussing some part of their plan. It seemed like they were always having sex. Kari Wuhrer was topless several times and also completely nude once or twice. In one scene, she was only wearing a white blouse and a thong. She took a shower that way, and once her shirt was wet, she might as well have been topless. Stephen Baldwin was shown without his shirt a few times. He bare backside was shown once or twice. During one of the sex scenes, it looked like Stephen was sucking in his stomach. He also didn’t look too natural or comfortable in most of the sex scenes. He looked a little silly at times. The sex scenes were rather explicit and steamy, so they could offend some viewers. People who don’t want to see Kari Wuhrer naked repeatedly shouldn’t watch this movie.

There were lines that some characters said in Spider’s Web did sound a bit silly here and there throughout the movie. It could have been the lines themselves or it could have just been poor delivery by the actor. I only noticed those lines a few times, so it didn’t really bother me. There was some music that played at different times during the movie. The music didn’t really stand out, but some of it did sound a little annoying to me at times.

The acting in Spider’s Web wasn’t the greatest, but it was ok for the most part. Kari Wuhrer was good in her role when she wasn’t naked. She also did a good job with the sex scenes and seemed to be natural and relaxed in them, unlike Stephen Baldwin. He looked a bit stiff and uncomfortable in some of the sex scenes. And he looked downright ridiculous holding his stomach in during one of them. His acting wasn’t that great in his other scenes either, but I have seen worse. The other actors that were in the movie only showed up in a few scenes here and there. None of them were that great.

CHARACTERS

Lauren Bishop - A single woman who was working in a firm made up largely of men. She was trying to get a promotion. Her boss didn’t like her ideas and fired her. Lauren got back at him though. She was an independent woman who would do what she had to do to get what she wanted. She was very determined. She could take care of herself. She was smart and figured out how the money could be taken without anyone noticing at first. She had been burned in a relationship in the past, so she was slow to get serious. She didn’t like to be used, but she would use others to get what she wanted. She always had a backup plan.

Clay Harding - He was the son of a wealthy man. Clay didn’t have a good relationship with his father. Clay did do what his dad wanted him to do since he controlled the money. Clay wanted out of his father’s control. He seemed to get serious with Lauren quickly. He didn’t seem to mind following her plan to get the money. Clay didn’t seem to have a real job.

DVD

I rented Spider’s Web on DVD. The picture and sound quality was good. There weren’t any extras though. The only options other than playing the movie listed on the main menu were for the audio setup, subtitles, scene selections and trailers.

I have seen better movies, but Spider’s Web was fairly good and I did enjoy it. Fans of Stephen Baldwin or Kari Wuhrer should enjoy the movie. Wuhrer’s fans should really enjoy the movie since she takes her clothes off several times.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age