Malice Details

Many people assumed that Australian actress Nicole Kidman would happily settle down in the background once she became Mrs Tom Cruise, occasionally making the odd foray into her husband's films. However, she has surprised the cynics by forging a strong and very individual career of her own. In this thriller she plays the seemingly innocent young newlywed who ensnares nice-but-dim husband Bill Pullman and charismatic surgeon Alec Baldwin in a deadly scam. Kidman is smart and sexy as the femme fatale figure, while Baldwin, always better at being bad, excels as the arrogant doc. The talented supporting cast also includes Anne Bancroft, Bebe Neuwirth and Peter Gallagher. Aaron Sorkin and Scott Frank's screenplay is a mite too tortuous, but director Harold Becker, best known for Sea of Love and The Onion Field, has fun piling on the red herrings and never lets the tension drop.

"...Immaculately crafted....Kidman, who uses a flawless American accent, proves her strengths as an actress, and Baldwin mixes menace, sex and humor in another terrific performance..."