Lazy editing makes 'Fatal Affair' a lame affair
If you're of a certain age, much of the new Netflix thriller “Fatal Affair” will be very familiar. That's because it's really just a diluted retelling of another, similarly named film — 1987's “Fatal Attraction.”
Weirdly, that doesn't mean this one — reuniting Omar Epps and Nia Long — isn't worth watching when the kids are asleep. It's actually a bit of a romp, even if the filmmakers didn't intend that. This is a thriller that feels safe the second time around.
Both films share similar DNA — a middle-aged and wealthy but slightly bored spouse has a fling and then that lover goes on a full-on psychopathic rampage until one of them has to die. In 1987, Glenn Close was the spurned lover and Michael Douglas was the cheater.
“Fatal Affair” scrambles the deck, but not by much. Long stars as a well-to-do lawyer in a luxurious beachside property outside San Francisco who is stalked by an unstable acquaintance from her college days, played by Epps.
“I do have the perfect life, the perfect husband, the perfect daughter, the perfect home,” Long's Ellie tells Epp's character David when they have a few too many drinks after work one night.
David, who crushed on Ellie 20 years ago, is still smitten and probes a weakness in his prey. “You deserve to be with a man who appreciates you,” he tells her.
They make out in one of those dimly lit, beautifully appointed nightclub bathrooms that only appear in movies. She suddenly pulls away and goes home. That's it. He starts a slow boil to Crazytown.
The second half of the film is the familiar chasing down of his obsession — outwitting caller ID, peeping and blackmailing, the nasty unexpected dinner show-up, the turning her best friend against her. But director Peter Sullivan — who also co-wrote the script with Rasheeda Garner — doesn't have his heart set on a white-knuckle thriller. He is more happy with a Lifetime film.
This is a world of the insular rich, where very nice kitchen knives in a very nice wood block are going to be used in ways their German makers never intended.
It has a script where Ellie, gazing off into the ocean at sunset, tells her daughter, “Now I can breathe.” This is where Epps' David plays a high-level computer hacker but hasn't yet enabled biometrics on his own cellphone.
There are some nice updates to the same old story, especially the addition of cellphones and security footage to make things feel intrusive.
But if you rejoice when David appears dead with some 20 minutes to go in the film, you are an optimist. Did you expect that final part would be all about Ellie repairing her marriage in a loving montage? Oh, no. This will end in blood.
Just kidding, not a lot — happy landings for all the main nice characters. No one you cared about is ever in real jeopardy and this film will disappear from memory like butter in that popcorn bowl.
<b>“Fatal Affair”</b>
★
Starring: Omar Epps and Nia Long
Directed by: Peter Sullivan
Other: A Netflix release. TV-14 for language and sexual situations. 89 minutes