Not a terrible movie. The title is ironic. Luke Perry and wife Ashley Judd lead anything but a normal life. He's a diligent cop and she works in some sort of electronic assembly plant. The problem is that she becomes erratic. She starts boozing it up and taking drugs. She gets moody. She goes on wild spending sprees and gets them into terrible debt, while the distracted Luke Perry is so absorbed by her that he alienates his partners and is finally fired. She shows up late at work and is truculent with her boss and after a period in rehab she's cashiered as well. Perry and Judd have furious arguments over expenses in their modest apartment. What they have going for them is her occasional lucid periods and a tendency to rut like two chimpanzees in heat. In the print I just saw, some of the more lurid glandular encounters were cut, as were some scenes of self mutilation, and that's too bad because here the nature of the sex actually plays a part in the story.
Well, they have individual interests as well. Judd is a feverishly rapt amateur astronomer and Perry would just love to open his own book store. Perry has a bearded friend with whom he takes friendly motorcycle rides, and Judd has a lesbian friend from work. That's about it for this unhappy couple.
In order to get them out of debt and to keep them together, Perry takes to holding up banks. As an ex-cop he knows how to do it. He fibs to Judd and tells her that he's putting in overtime as a security guard. When she improbably discovers his real source of income, she's not at all shocked. She finds it exciting. She's overjoyed and is finally able to achieve orgasm with Perry.
At her insistence, Perry takes her along on his next heist, but she's so elated she shoots a row of holes in the ceiling before he manages to yank her through the bank's door.
By this time it's clear that Judd is a Class A bipolar. She's right out of DSM IV-R. She's glum and given to cutting herself all over. The next minute she's wildly gleeful or sometimes irritable over nothing. Her judgment is impaired. Compared to Luke Perry, though, she's a chrome dome. He's one of the stupidest men who ever walked the earth. At one point she leaves him to live with her lesbian friend. When he begs her to come back home, she lays everything out for him in plain language, but it all bounces off him. Her truths are as ping pong balls.
It's not an unintelligent plot, reminiscent of a classic cheap noir called "Gun Crazy" with John Dahl and Sparkle Annie or whatever her name was. (I'm too lazy to look it up.) It's the kind of crazy story that might really happen to two screwballs.
Ashley Judd does a good job. She was superb in another crime drama, "Heat," as Val Kilmer's wife. She's demonstrated the limits of her range as an actress elsewhere but in this film her performance is unimpeachable.
Luke Perry is another matter. He seems to be a nice enough guy but as an actor he's sufficiently lightweight that he should stick to the small screen where "presence" matters less. He had the same problem that David Caruso had, but I can't put a name to it.
Judd's oddness is accurately shown. When the couple visit some relatives for a barbecue, instead of sitting at the table and drinking a beer with the adults, she immediately wanders off and kicks a ball back and forth with the family's child, ignoring the usual rules. Nothing dramatic, just askew. But otherwise the direction is flat and uninspired. (When Judd speaks at a group therapy session, she's shot from a high angle for no discernible reason.) It's kind of disappointing, coming as it does from the director of "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer."
Well, they have individual interests as well. Judd is a feverishly rapt amateur astronomer and Perry would just love to open his own book store. Perry has a bearded friend with whom he takes friendly motorcycle rides, and Judd has a lesbian friend from work. That's about it for this unhappy couple.
In order to get them out of debt and to keep them together, Perry takes to holding up banks. As an ex-cop he knows how to do it. He fibs to Judd and tells her that he's putting in overtime as a security guard. When she improbably discovers his real source of income, she's not at all shocked. She finds it exciting. She's overjoyed and is finally able to achieve orgasm with Perry.
At her insistence, Perry takes her along on his next heist, but she's so elated she shoots a row of holes in the ceiling before he manages to yank her through the bank's door.
By this time it's clear that Judd is a Class A bipolar. She's right out of DSM IV-R. She's glum and given to cutting herself all over. The next minute she's wildly gleeful or sometimes irritable over nothing. Her judgment is impaired. Compared to Luke Perry, though, she's a chrome dome. He's one of the stupidest men who ever walked the earth. At one point she leaves him to live with her lesbian friend. When he begs her to come back home, she lays everything out for him in plain language, but it all bounces off him. Her truths are as ping pong balls.
It's not an unintelligent plot, reminiscent of a classic cheap noir called "Gun Crazy" with John Dahl and Sparkle Annie or whatever her name was. (I'm too lazy to look it up.) It's the kind of crazy story that might really happen to two screwballs.
Ashley Judd does a good job. She was superb in another crime drama, "Heat," as Val Kilmer's wife. She's demonstrated the limits of her range as an actress elsewhere but in this film her performance is unimpeachable.
Luke Perry is another matter. He seems to be a nice enough guy but as an actor he's sufficiently lightweight that he should stick to the small screen where "presence" matters less. He had the same problem that David Caruso had, but I can't put a name to it.
Judd's oddness is accurately shown. When the couple visit some relatives for a barbecue, instead of sitting at the table and drinking a beer with the adults, she immediately wanders off and kicks a ball back and forth with the family's child, ignoring the usual rules. Nothing dramatic, just askew. But otherwise the direction is flat and uninspired. (When Judd speaks at a group therapy session, she's shot from a high angle for no discernible reason.) It's kind of disappointing, coming as it does from the director of "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer."