Review of Disclosure (1994) by Allan C — 25 Jan 2015
The gender politics of this film are pretty screwy in this gender swap sexual harassment corporate thriller. Michael Douglas is sexually harassed by his superior, Demi Moore. What is Douglas to do when he fends off the advances of his sexy new boss and has to return home with sexy claw marks on his chest? Then what's he to do when Moore accuses him of attacking her? Rich white male victims have it so rough.
It's just not fair. Douglas kind of specialized in this type of part for a while, doing this and also playing the victim in "Fatal Attraction" and "Basic Instinct." Those films were much better than this one, which plays out like a slickly made movie-of-the-week.
Annette Benning was originally cast until she became pregnant. I can't help but think that she would have brought a different tone to the film, whereas the casting of Demi Moore made this feel more like a sensational piece of trash.
The film wants to be an intellectual dissection about power, sex and gender, but it ends up being more of a trashy mashup of "Basic Instinct" and "The Firm." And what's dummest is that is that Douglas could have solved his problems with a pocket tape recorder and just caught some of Moore's continuing harassing statements on tape.
Director Barry Levinson and writer Paul Attanasio (along with producer/novelist Michael Crichton) are too smart for this trash. However, it's rather compelling trash that I wanted to see how it all winds up, but chases scenes through 1994 virtual reality are pretty ridiculous.
Ennio Morricone does provide a nice score for the film though.
This review of Disclosure (1994) was written by Allan C on 25 Jan 2015.
Disclosure has generally received mixed reviews.
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