Republished from the show notes of my other site, Fuds on Film.
You can tell early on that Linda Fiorentino’s Bridget Gregory is not intended to be a sympathetic protagonist, as she runs a telemarketing outfit in Noo Yawk. Her husband, an apparently very mature medical student, Bill Pullman’s Clay Gregory, is a bit of a loser, deep in hock to a loan shark, but may just be turning things around after stealing a bunch of pharmaceutical cocaine and flogging them for seven hundred grand, apparently Bridget’s idea.
However, Bridget would rather have that cash for herself, so runs off with it, going into hiding under a new identity, Wendy Kroy, out in the sticks near Buffalo until a divorce can be arrange and the money suitably laundered. Clay’s not taking it lying down though, hiring a private detective to track Bridget down.
Meanwhile Bridget has started a relationship of sorts with Peter Berg’s Mike Swale, purely sexual on her side, but increasingly more unrequitedly lovely dovey on Mike’s end of things, making him a prime target for Bridget’s manipulations as Clay starts closing in on her.
The annoying thing about The Last Seduction, well, the primary annoying thing about it, at least, is a waste of potential. I’m entirely on board with a battle of wits, but this is one-sided at best. Even were Mike and Clay’s wits to be merged, they’d barely be a halfwit, so watching Bridget outsmart them akin to outsmarting a small child by stealing their nose.
It’s easy to forget that Peter Berg is sometimes an actor, mainly because his performances are so forgettable, and while that’s pretty much the case here, he can take comfort in not being Bill Pullman, who I think must have been told he’s in a comedy, or alternatively downed that supply of pharmaceutical cocaine before selling it.
Linda Fiorentino is not, I think, someone I have formed any fixed opinion about prior to watching this, and I’m not inclined to develop a positive or negative one on the basis of this flick, which means she escapes unscathed from a film I’m otherwise scathing about. Perhaps my mistake was taking this seriously, as I think this was primarily pitched as an exploitation skin flick and any other qualities it may have were either incidental or accidental. A complete waste of time and effort for all involved.
Oh, a correction, after the recounts, the primary annoying thing about The Last Seduction was in fact the soundtrack. I regret the error, and also watching the film.