Product Description

A black comedy in which an ammoral and ambitious news personality seduces a teenager to convince him to murder her husband.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: R
Release Date: 7-AUG-2001
Media Type: DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14587 in DVD
• Brand: KIDMAN,NICOLE
• Released on: 1998-11-10
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 106 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
If anyone ever doubts whether Nicole Kidman is a good actress, they should immediately be required to watch this outrageously wicked comedy from 1995, for which Kidman deservedly won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Leading Role. While director Gus Van Sant handles the fact-based satire with razor-sharp precision, Kidman delivers a deliciously devious performance as Suzanne Stone, a small-town New Hampshire housewife who fancies herself the next Barbara Walters, Jane Pauley, Diane Sawyer, and Maria Shriver all rolled up into one meticulously coiffed package. So determined is she to have a successful career on TV that she'll stop at nothing--even the calculated murder of her husband (Matt Dillon)--to get the attention she feels entitled to. To carry out her scheme she recruits some unwitting local teenagers including one boy (Joaquin Phoenix, matching Kidman's excellence) whose infatuation with Suzanne leads to sexual escapades and predictably troublesome consequences. It's a satirical comedy in Van Sant's capable hands, but it's so close to tabloid reality that the film never seems implausible--which only gives it a funnier, more blood-chilling quality of humor. Featuring Illeanna Douglas, George Segal, and Seinfeld alumnus Wayne Knight in memorable supporting roles, this is one of the best comedies of the '90s--especially if you prefer comedies with a decidedly darker edge. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
Director Gus Van Sant's latest movie is his funniest, but also his least adventurous. Adapted by Buck Henry from Joyce Maynard's 1992 novel, it tells the story of Suzanne Stone (Nicole Kidman, pushy and perky), a suburban nobody who, bored with her husband (Matt Dillon), decides to become a somebody in the world of television. She joins a local station, starts to shoot a documentary about three schoolkids, and gradually lures them into her web. You expect Suzanne to ascend to great things, but the fame she craves turns out to be no less parochial than the town she despises. The film is smartly structured, and it's kicked along by a busy Danny Elfman score, but Van Sant's touch is uncertain: the story's satirical bite begins to loosen as his camera lingers more and more on the plain, disaffected teen-agers. One of them is played by Joaquin Phoenix, whose brother River was so extraordinary in "My Own Private Idaho"; it's as though Van Sant longs to recapture the wayward, carnal atmosphere of the earlier movie but finds himself locked in a smaller, more brittle project. The film does for him what "The Player" did for Altman: it proves his cleverness and the sharpness of his eye without ever giving him full rein. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

The Perfect Film for a Celebrity-Obsessed Culture
"To Die For" is a great little gem of a movie that, in my opinion, ranks as one of the best dark comedies of the last decade. Nicole Kidman, in what is probably her finest performance to date, is stunning as Suzanne "Stone" - her real name is Maretto - a completely self-absorbed, amoral, and utterly ruthless young woman who will let nothing stand in the way of her obtaining her goal of being a "television star". The film is shot in the style of a slightly wacky TV documentary, which only adds to the fun, as we see the "post-tragedy" interviews with those who were involved with the late Miss Stone. Stone is an attractive but cold-blooded blonde in a small New England town who is desperate to become a national celebrity on a national TV News Network. As proof of her warped psyche, she tells the audience "You're a nobody if you're not on TV" - which unfortunately does seem to accurately describe the feelings of many people these days. She's also determined to move up the social ladder in her little town, and so as the film begins she seduces and marries the handsome quarterback of the high school football team (Matt Dillon), the most popular boy in town. Dillon's sister despises Suzanne and sees right through her facade, but Dillon is so entranced he doesn't listen. Dillon goes on to work in his father's pizzeria, but Suzanne obtains a job as the weather forecaster for the local rinky-dink TV station, and begins to have dreams of glory. One of the darkly funny aspects of this film is that for all of Suzanne's scheming and ruthlessness she's not very bright, and her attempts to sound and act "sophisticated" are often hilariously inept. When her faithful but old-fashioned hubby tells her to quit her job and help him with the family business, she decides he's "impeding" her career and that she'll have to kill him. So she seduces an underage teenage geek (hilariously played by a very young Joaquin Phoenix), has a torrid sexual affair with him, and then convinces him to murder her hubby. At first she uses the shock of the murder to obtain further publicity - "you've got to think of your career first" - from the local and state media. Unfortunately, her underage love affair is discovered and she is ruined. Ever undaunted, she begins plotting her comeback, but Dillon's family (they are Italian), has a little surprise planned for their murderous in-law. Kidman's performance is dead-on - she plays Stone as a parody of the type of person who will do ANYTHING - even murder - to get on TV and become "somebody". The supporting cast is also excellent. The most troubling part of this film is that it was loosely based on a real story - an attractive New Hampshire schoolteacher who by most appearances had everything seduced a fifteen-year-old student and convinced him to kill her husband - apparently so she could leave her hometown and try to become "famous" in the big city. "To Die For" may seem like a delicious but improbable story - but it's really not all that far from today's news headlines. Ouch!

ICY, SATIRICAL DARK COMEDY
Nothing like a little dark humor and feminine fangs to make a mash of the culture driven by 15-minutes-of-fame. In this case, a riveting Nicole Kidman as a perky, self-obsessed suburban nutcase who has big dreams of finding fame and fortune, even at the expense of her husband.

Directed by Gus Van Sant in his usual cobbled-together manner (hoary, quasi-documentary devices to propel the screenplay, regular flashbacks, direct-to-the-camera diction, etc..) based on Buck Henry's trippy adaptation of a novel by the same name. The result is a pleasantly watchable movie that moves quickly and keeps you guessing the limits to which our protagonist would limp to achieve her ambitious goals.

I felt that the premise, beyond its chirpy surface, is quite thought-provoking. If our perky weather reporter were to be successful in her quest then we could believe that total dedication to a quest is admirable and ultimately rewarded -- regardless of the means employed. Can we condone murder though? Perhaps we are offered a tongue-in-cheek hyperbole that extremes are necessary if we are to escape our station in life.

This movie apart from amusing you will surely leave you with something to savor, not just off its theme but from the brilliant supporting performances of Casey Affleck, Matt Dillon and especially Joaquin Phoenix.

Recommended rental.

WOW!
Wow...what a movie! And the fact that it's based on a true story makes it even more fun to watch. Kidman fans will go crazy over this film because it is one of her most ravishing performances to date! She is EXCELLENT in the role of the blonde seductress, Suzanne Maretto. Suzanne is an aspiring television newscaster and she is willing to do ANYTHING to become famous! When she starts to feel smothered and "held back" by her husband (played by Matt Dillon) she decides to manipulate 3 teenagers (played by Joaquin Phoenix, Casey Affleck-the younger brother of Ben Affleck, and Allison Folland) into killing him. A dark but witty film that will satisfy hardcore Kidman fans. A supporting cast of Illeana Douglas (who plays Matt Dillon's sister) and Dan Hedaya (who plays his father) works well also. This movie was actually remade for TV in 1991, called "Murder in New Hampshire" starring a young Helen Hunt, although it wasn't as good as this one!