Indecent Proposal (1993)

[DeathToMikeyBay 130]

My favorite HDTGM episodes are from "stealth" bad movies. Movies that might seem lame or ordinary at first glance or when you first watched it, but once you take a second look you realize how INSANELY awful they are. 88 Minutes? "Some forgettable cop thriller." Toys? "It's just WIlly Wonka with toys instead of candy, right?"

 

Indecent Proposal? "It was some adult morality tale that I usually only watched the first 5 minutes of as a teenager to see Demi's boobs."

 

WRONG!

 

What made me check out this movie again was learning that it had lead the 1993 Razzies with 7 nominations and 3 wins. "Huh? It wasn't my kind of movie, but I don't remember it seeming that bad. Wasn't it pop culture famous for the time?" So I checked it out on Netflix instant.

 

Wow

 

- Awful awful terrible writing. Like, Twilight level bad writing. You have to suffer watching Woody Harrelson act out Twilight quality writing. One scene where he flips out at Demi is barely one step above "You're tearing me apart, Lisa!".

 

- Right from the opening love scene, you can see how well deserved the nomination for worst soundtrack came from. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd1OwbzHPBk)

 

- Woody and Demi's plan for affording their dream house is to gamble their life savings at Vegas. The first night, they easily win $25,000. Woody declares that all they have to do tomorrow is double it and it should only take 2 hours. What makes the scene hilarious isn't that they say it in the moment caught up in the excitement, but while Woody wears his reading glasses pretending to pour over a pile of financial documents. The movie proposals that expecting to double your money in 2 hours at a casino is a perfectly rational conclusion after hours of pouring over paperwork and punching the numbers.

 

- In the same scene, Demi is rolling around bed tossing around all the money they won. It's only $25,000. Not quite enough to take a bath in. Not only that, this is their entire life savings that wouldn't even support them for half a year if they lost their jobs, and they're casually throwing it around their hotel room. They probably lost a couple grand under the bed or inbetween the sheets.

 

- They then have sex, and Woody is smearing wads of the money all over Demi's ass and inside her panties. Dude.

 

- Their solid plan of doubling their life savings in 2 hours? Roulette! One of the statistically worst casino games to play! In a game where zero skill comes into play! You might as well gamble your life savings away on slot machines.

 

- Sorry, I'm still not done with the gambling scenes. Where the hell did Woody get "2 hours"? Probability wise, your best odds of winning money on a pure chance game is to just bet everything at once. The more bets you make, the more the law of averages kicks in which guarantees you lose money. While I'm sure no casino lets unknowns bet $25,000 per roulette play, it sure as hell wouldn't take 2 hours to double or bust at max bets.

 

- Seriously, ROULETTE??? What was the master plan for their financial future, just keep betting on black?

 

- You have long time character actor Oliver Platt as the comedy relief lawyer who seems like he stepped off a light rom com like The Backup Plan more than this serious morality tale. "You sold your wife? How you do such a thing....without letting me negotiate first! You could have gotten twice that for her!" *sad trumpet noise* It's like sticking a wacky joke character into The Crying Game or Unfaithful.

 

- They lose all their savings and decide to accept Redford's proposal of $1 million "for one night with your wife". The lawyer works into the contract that they get the money even if there's no sex. Despite that, Demi is banging him within 3 minutes of meeting him on his boat. Redford's secret technique? Flipping a coin.

 

- Redford and Demi attend a charity auction for endangered animals, MC'd by Head of the Class' Billy Connolly (the poor man's John Cleese) telling terrible jokes. He then proceeds to verbally bash all the animals the event is trying to save!

 

- This movie was directed by the great Adrien Lynn! SO UPSETTING

 

- The author of the novel it was based on never wrote another book.

 

- The screenwriter who adapted it also wrote Slumber Party Massacre and all FIVE of the Beethoven movies!!!

 

 

Yeah, HDTGM could have a run with this one.

[sillstaw 414]

I loved the parody they did of this on "The Critic:"

 

"I'll pay you $6 to sleep with your wife."

"Last time you gave us $1,000,000!"

"I know. I was worth $1,000,006."

[seanotron 2307]

Billy Connolly (the poor man's John Cleese)

 

You better watch it, Buster Brown. Billy C is a treasure. A TREASURE.

[PhillipMedoc 648]

You better watch it, Buster Brown. Billy C is a treasure. A TREASURE.

But that comparison was kinda apt, actually. I feel like Billy Connolly has never really gotten his due; the thing I remember him most from is when he replaced Howard Hesseman on the tv show Head Of The Class. (Oof).

 

- They then have sex, and Woody is smearing wads of the money all over Demi's ass and inside her panties. Dude.

Haha, that reminds me of this classic Achewood strip.

[seanotron 2307]

But that comparison was kinda apt, actually. I feel like Billy Connolly has never really gotten his due; the thing I remember him most from is when he replaced Howard Hesseman on the tv show Head Of The Class. (Oof).

 

I agree he doesn't get his due in the public eye, but usually when you say someone is 'the poor man's such and such' you aren't paying them a compliment.

 

I just love Billy Connolly so I'm prepared to go to the mat for him. DON'T MESS WITH BILLY, MAN! Plus, he's married to the wacky blonde from Superman III who is now a clinical psychologist. You can't make this stuff up.

[RyanSz 3140]

Holy shit, I just looked at the wikipedia to get a refresher of what this movie was as I remember bits and pieces from when I was a kid, and I saw this thing was a HUGE FUCKING HIT at the box office, I mean this puts the financial success that Cobra was to shame. And reading up on this, I really don't know what could have garnered that kind of audience response, I mean were the leads really that hot in '93? Yeah Harrelson was coming off of White Men Can't Jump, but this movie was a completely different beast from what that was. Demi Moore was in A Few Good Men so it seems natural she would do well in another drama, but she wasn't the big pull for Men, and Redford was just in Sneakers, but his role in this was completely different than what people were used to seeing him as. I mean it is really mind-boggling how this movie did so well, but was almost completely panned by critics.

[nicolas cage 3]

The ending drove me nuts. I don't remember him being that much more responsible for gambling away their money than she was, or for taking Redford's offer, so having him take her back at the end after all that punishment was insane. The movie presenting that as a happy and satisfying conclusion made me laugh out loud. I couldn't believe it when I watched another movie

The Invention of Lying

soon after and it had a very similar emasculating ending!

[seanotron 2307]

The ending drove me nuts. I don't remember him being that much more responsible for gambling away their money than she was, or for taking Redford's offer, so having him take her back at the end after all that punishment was insane. The movie presenting that as a happy and satisfying conclusion made me laugh out loud. I couldn't believe it when I watched another movie

The Invention of Lying

soon after and it had a very similar emasculating ending!

 

 

I'm curious why you'd find either of those endings 'emasculating'.

[nicolas cage 3]

 

 

I'm curious why you'd find either of those endings 'emasculating'.

Pretty simple, the female leads humiliate and abuse the male leads for a good portion of the films, and after the women are done having their fun with anther man, the male leads take them back without a second thought.

[DeathToMikeyBay 130]

I'd say Woody was the dingus for deciding on the gambling scheme followed by pimping out his wife. I guess it might make sense Demi banging Redford within 3 minutes despite the "don't have to have sex" clause if she was pissed Woody would sell her?

 

What really made the whole movie feel hollow though was the idea that a highschool sweetheart couple breaking up was this catastrophic thing that must be mended rather than a dumb mistake doomed to fail.

[seanotron 2307]

Pretty simple, the female leads humiliate and abuse the male leads for a good portion of the films, and after the women are done having their fun with anther man, the male leads take them back without a second thought.

 

MISANDRY!

[wakefresh 689]

Holy shit, I just looked at the wikipedia to get a refresher of what this movie was as I remember bits and pieces from when I was a kid, and I saw this thing was a HUGE FUCKING HIT at the box office, I mean this puts the financial success that Cobra was to shame. And reading up on this, I really don't know what could have garnered that kind of audience response, I mean were the leads really that hot in '93? Yeah Harrelson was coming off of White Men Can't Jump, but this movie was a completely different beast from what that was. Demi Moore was in A Few Good Men so it seems natural she would do well in another drama, but she wasn't the big pull for Men, and Redford was just in Sneakers, but his role in this was completely different than what people were used to seeing him as. I mean it is really mind-boggling how this movie did so well, but was almost completely panned by critics.

 

I don't get it, but maybe there was some sort of big adultery scandal in the news at the time? This movie's marketing was great though. I remember all of the talk shows, morning shows, radio shows, etc asking the same question: "would you let your spouse have sex with another person for one million dollars?" I put this movie in the same category as "Fatal Attraction" -- it's a movie that captures some innate fears that people have of vulnerability, partnership, marriage, etc.

[wakefresh 689]

 

- Seriously, ROULETTE??? What was the master plan for their financial future, just keep betting on black?

 

 

 

As Wesley Snipes said: "You always bet on black!"

[media='']http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn8FPOt2uZM[/media]

[seanotron 2307]

 

As Wesley Snipes said: "You always bet on black!"

[media='']http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn8FPOt2uZM[/media]

 

Aww, that clip makes me miss my great-grandmother.

[SlidePocket 707]

Bringing this Worst Picture winner back up since the Razzies are happening on Saturday.