Product Description

A psychiatrist becomes entangled with two disturbed sistes in a deadly game of murder. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 06/01/2004 Starring: Richard Gere Kim Basinger Run time: 125 minutes Rating: R Director: Phil Joanou

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24877 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2004-06-01
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 124 minutes

Amazon.com
This film, which again pairs Richard Gere and Kim Basinger (who starred in 1986's No Mercy), offers up elements of classic noir: a hapless man becomes intimately involved with a beautiful blonde who may or may not be who or what she appears to be. Dedicated psychiatrist Isaac Barr (Gere) reluctantly, and then more obsessively, becomes involved with Heather Evans (Basinger), the sister of his patient, Diana Baylor (Uma Thurman). Evans is unhappily married to a gangster (appropriately played by a muscular and menacing Eric Roberts in a trademark role). Gere and Basinger make a credible, if dangerous couple, and Thurman delivers a subtle, understated performance and demonstrates her range and potential.

The thriller is appropriately shot in gorgeous San Francisco, where the literal and figurative curving and hilly roads wind throughout. Credit legendary art director Dean Tavoularis for some amazing sets and scenes, notably the elegantly cavernous restaurant where Evans and her husband have a fateful dinner.

This film is, in a way, glossy director Phil Joanou's Hitchcockian tribute--as a climactic lighthouse scene best demonstrates. Final Analysis doesn't offer an intimate look at its characters, but a beautifully stylized one, moody and gloomy. The intricate plot experiments with the device of "pathological intoxication," in which the subject completely loses control after drinking alcohol. And this doesn't mean a conventional ugly drunk; it means a frightening psychotic. Good and evil, hope and despair, beauty and repulsion are often juxtaposed in the film's complex world. --N.F. Mendoza

Customer Reviews

DVD is a Disgrace to the Original Film
WARNING: This DVD is in 1.33 aspect ration, so you won't see the same film as the one in the theater.

If you have a widescreen tv or 16:9 projection screen you'll have black bars on the left & right sides of your screen that will make this DVD look like a "TV Movie".

Visually this was a stunning film, shot by one of the greatest cinematographers - Jordan Cronenwenth who also filmed BLADERUNNER, STOP MAKING SENSE, etc. It is such a disservice to him and the film to NOT release this as an anamorphic widescreen DVD so the homeviewer can enjoy the great visuals.

WARNER Bros., we'll rather pay a little more, and get quality!

4 stars for the film, 1 star for the DVD.

Good movie -- bad DVD
This thriller was always an extremely entertaining Hitchcock knockoff (nothing at all like Basic Instinct, despite the other reviews here) -- if you could buy Gere as a therapist, and that's not hard, since he's not playing a *smart* therapist -- but a lot of the charm of the movie was how gorgeous it was visually, and this DVD does not give you the gorgeous anarmorphic widescreen picture you expect from a DVD. It's formatted to fit your (square) screen. I would much rather have paid 20 bucks for the expected widescreen version -- since I already had the VHS, this wasn't even worth 10. (Yes, I admit I should have read the product description more carefully, but I didn't realize people were releasing widescreen movies on DVD without a widescreen option -- why should they, for crying out loud? -- so I got blindsided. I post this to warn others like myself.)

Great flick above Basic Instinct!
If you're into mind games, this is a movie treat for you. I'm glad this dvd is out so i added it to my collection. For the price i paid for this dvd, it is worth it. In this movie, Kim Basinger played a sweet & innocent but daring role into pursuing an opportunity of getting rid of her rich husband (Eric Roberts). The object of her desire is her sister (Uma Thurman) and hunk psychologist (Richard Gere) who all three gamble for deceit and manipulation. The question is, who of the three will prevail? The movie naturally ignites with heavy drama and suspense with metaphores and their meaning. This is what Richard Gere, the psychologist, needs to figure out. I just love that part when Richard Gere entraps Kim Basinger in saying "You're right about double jeopardy". I think this is the best acting role that Kim Basinger had ever pursued over all her other movies even LA Confidential, where she won Golden globe award as best actress.