Review of Fatal Instinct

Introduction

Spoof movies are great, kind of. Whenever a certain genre comes into prominence, a send up usually isn`t far behind. It`s a great opportunity for filmmakers to let their hair down and have a little fun. Of late, we`ve seen the horror genre sent up with the Scary Movie films, but the earliest spoofs I can remember are the brilliant Airplane movies. Of course there are the Naked Gun films as well as National Lampoon`s Loaded Weapon sending up the cop movie genre. Mel Brooks also got in on the act with the brilliant Blazing Saddles, the good Spaceballs and the average Robin Hood: Men In Tights. Top Gun was also mercilessly lampooned with the Hot Shots films. Spoofs are live action cartoons where all the rules go out the window. All you need are verbal gags, visual gags, slapstick and stupid gags. In the late eighties and early nineties, Michael Douglas appeared to use his career as therapy and created a sub-genre of sexy thrillers of the likes of Disclosure, Basic Instinct and Fatal Attraction. According to the Hollywood rulebook, a spoof was required and Fatal Instinct is the result.

Ned Ravine is a defence attorney who moonlights as a cop and conveniently he defends those he arrests. His wife is cheating on him with the car mechanic and together they plan to collect on his life insurance. His secretary has a mysterious past and an obsessive-compulsive disorder, and the only case he ever lost, Max Shady is being released from prison and has vengeance on his mind. Into this steamy web of lies and deceit walks Lola Cain, a sultry blonde temptress who`ll take Ned into her bed for a night of steamy passion that he will soon come to regret.

Video

The picture is a perfectly acceptable 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer from MGM. Nice and sharp with strong colours and little in the way of print damage, there is no reason to complain.

Audio

The sound for Fatal Instinct comes in a Dolby Digital 2.0 cake, with German, French, Italian, Spanish and most importantly English icing on top. Dialogue is clear all the way through, except when they speak Yiddish.

Features

Trailer and subtitles. Subtitles and Trailer. I really should assign an F key for MGM back catalogue discs. I`ve run out of ways to say the same thing.

Conclusion

If you have seen any kind of spoof movie in your life, then you will know exactly what to expect from Fatal Instinct. Silly behaviour and general foolishness abound as the cast go about sending up most of Michael Douglas` filmography. Some jokes are very funny, some fall flat on their faces, but most will have you chuckling all the way through.

The cast is great with a stellar performance from Armand Assante (he of the "send in the clones" line from Judge Dredd) as Ned Ravine. He is perfectly deadpan as the gormless lawyer/cop who gets ensnared into this steamy storyline. Sean Young is gorgeous as Lola Cain and joins in the silliness with gusto. There is able support from Sherilyn Fenn, Kate Nelligan, James Remar and Tony Randall among others.

Fatal Instinct is hardly worth intellectual debate, but as a means of passing 90 minutes with a smile on your face, it fits the bill well. It also has the most ridiculous sex scene since Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche flopped around like a couple of dying trout in Damage. If you can make room for a little stupidity in your life, then you could do worse than Fatal Instinct. Personally, I can`t wait for National Lampoon`s Lord of the Rings.