Sleeping with the Enemy (1991)

It's really tough for actors to transcend bad material and the horribly predictable screenplay by Ronald Bass really reinforces that in "Sleeping With the Enemy," It does what I like to call the "When a Stranger Calls" crap-out: for the first fifteen minutes, it's pretty engaging, and the last fifteen minutes are about the same. And in between is a boatload of Lifetime-caliber melodrama, and virtually nothing believable or interesting happening on screen.

This is nothing new for Ronald Bass and sometimes his movies are so well cast and acted that you don't notice how really creaky the set is around you. Not so here. Patrick Bergen's performance is horrendously hammy, almost campy in spots. His later eye-bugging hysteria totally diffuses any of the character's sinister shadings from earlier in the film...at least before he started shouting LAURA LAURA LAURA like a comedian parodying Brando in "Streetcar." I never found Kevin Anderson to be a convincing actor, period, and he's no better with the Miami Vice greaseball look thrown over him.

On the other hand, Julia Roberts gives an arguably good performance; it's muted and nicely restrained most of the time (save for the "Pretty Woman"-type montage in the middle...you can almost hear the Fox execs ordering up Bass' team to recycle something that will retain fans of the 1989 drooler).

Don't get me wrong. This movie isn't unwatchable. But at times, it's almost laughable. A shame...from previous reviews it sounds like the book was very good.

Fmovies: I found this movie, if not terribly believable, very moving and emotional when I saw it some years back. Julia Roberts brings a real vulnerability to all her roles, and is perfect here as the affluent but both mentally and physically abused wife.

The sad tale revolves around an apparently perfect upper middle class couple who share a beach home...the beautiful young Laura (who has every material comfort) and her obsessive and abusive husband, Martin. Laura lives in terror of her abuser, finally seizing a chance to escape by faking her own death and and fleeing to another town, where she assumes an entirely new identity. Meanwhile, Martin becomes ballistic when he discovers that his wife is not really dead and goes after her...

I admit it, the plot is pretty far fetched, a lot of holes in the story, some events depicted not very believable. Leave your logic behind. Still, I was able to overlook all this and focus my attention on Laura's plight, hoping she could evade (or eliminate) this intellectual brute, and build a new life for herself with a new love.

The portrayal of Laura's terror is vivid as she tries to appease her obsessive husband, who becomes violent if she fails to keep the pantry shelf items in perfect alignment. The most chilling scene of all is the rape, with its accompaniment of Martin's favorite classical music, a piece which thereafter haunts his young wife. No sympathy here for the husband, whose unfolding actions simply go from unspeakable to unthinkable.

Not a particularly believable plot but engrossing, nevertheless, and a pair of vividly drawn characters who elicit strong emotions. However, the best part of this movie is definitely its message. Contrary to the typical image, spousal abuse is no respecter of social class. It would have been much more difficult for me before this film than it is now to picture an affluent, educated, sophisticated abuser.

Fresh from her success in Steel Magnolias, Pretty Woman and Flatliners Julia Roberts takes the lead role in "Sleeping With The Enemy"

Sleeping with the enemy is a good title, because if the is movie is the enemy, then sleeping is what most viewers will end up doing.

I can't complain too much about this movie. Snore through it, maybe, but not complain. Some of it is so ludicrous I wondered whether it was originally conceived as a spoof comedy. I found my spirits sinking the longer I watched it. The opening scenes on the beach were effective and had promise, but the rest if the movie is a complete waste of time. It is essentially a slasher movie in disguise, complete with jumpy soundtrack and a plot that is full of countless holes.

Of the cast, Roberts looks good, but that is it, Patrick Bergman seems to be doing a Burt Reynolds impression when nobody (and I mean nobody) not even Burt Reynolds wanted to be Burt Reynolds. He is so cliché, I'm not sure his character is meant to be as funny as he seems.

As of the rest they seem to be from a struggling local amateur dramatic group and all just seem happy to be there.

How this movie grossed what it did amazes me. My advice is give it a miss. Avoid it like the plague. Tell your friends to pass it by. The acting is bad, bad, bad (Roberts included)

Sleeping with the Enemy fmovies. What a great movie. One of Julia Robert's best performances.

The start of the movie seems fine Laura and Martin seem like a happily married couple, then you see a scene where Martin berates her about hanging the bathroom towels out of order and then, Laura desperately tries to arrange the tins in the cupboard exactly right. Everything is definitely not alright when you see Martin punch Laura in the head.

This is the story of how Laura fakes her own death and tries to make a new life for herself.

You really feel for Laura and Martin is a really evil guy, who is portrayed very scarily.

The music is beautiful and sad, one of the loveliest soundtracks I have ever heard.

I really recommend this film to other women, although it is not aimed entirely at the female audience, I feel we get more out of it

Laura marries Martin Burney who appears to be the perfect man, he is handsome and successful, yet the dream of the perfect man becomes a nightmare as Martin is a control freak who abuses her both physically and mentally. Once she decides enough is enough she plots her escape by way of faking her own death by drowning, a new life beckons, but she will always be looking over her shoulder to see if Martin finds out the truth and tracks her down.

Thus the vehicle for Julia Roberts pans out as your just above average thriller. It has some decent moments that keep it from drifting into tedium, the set up perfectly portrays the double life that some people lead, on the social circuit it appears the couple are happy and at one with each other, yet behind their own walls there is violence and the crushing of the spirit. The final third of the film is also well worthy of the word thriller, for the tension is nigh on unbearable as we slowly come to the conclusion, whilst Julia Roberts as Laura does a very tidy job as this sort of modern day princess escaping the evil clutches of her keeper. Must mention the great use of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, it's eerie and impacts hard for the scenes it is used for.

Patrick Bergin plays his role well enough, it's just that his villainy is never fully realised, we see enough to know that what he does is wrong, yet it feels a bit too polished. Whilst a sequence that sees Laura dress up as a man is clearly the low point of the film, it really does stretch the viewers patience, and sadly insults their respective intelligence. It's a mixed bag that isn't quite a waste of time, it just doesn't leave you with anything other than a feeling of being semi fulfilled, shame as it could have been brilliant with a bit more bravery and brains in the script, 6/10.

Unlike some, I LIKE this lady and this is my favourite film of hers. After watching it for the nth time I was moved to buy the book on which it is based and this is a far more complex affair than the film, which simplifies everything and leaves out several characters altogether. I think Nancy Price did a far better job of studying an abused wife, who never really stopped loving her brute of a husband, than the makers of the film. It depicts Sara/Laura as a far more interesting character than the somewhat insipid Julia Roberts version.

If you have read the book, then some little touches in the film (i.e. - African Violets) become clearer.