The 1993 directorial debut of screenwriter Nicholas Kazan, who crafted a film that fit quite snugly into the era’s popular erotic thriller mode. As with most other such films (FINAL ANALYSIS, JENNIFER 8, DAMAGE, BASIC INSTINCT, BODY OF EVIDENCE, CHINA MOON, COLOR OF NIGHT, THE LAST SEDUCTION, JADE, etc.) DREAM LOVER underwent a widely publicized battle with the MPAA, and was theatrically released in truncated form, with a sexed-up “unrated” version (in which 4 minutes of saucy footage was restored) turning up on VHS.
Being an independent film, DREAM LOVER required a star to get financed, and netted one in the form of James Spader (who in 1993 was still riding high from the success of SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE). He plays Ray, a wealthy architect trying to move past a divorce. At a party he meets the insanely gorgeous Lena (Mädchen Amick), who he promptly runs into again at a supermarket. Ignoring the many red flags Lena exudes, such as the fact that certain people address her by a different name and that she appears to already have a boyfriend, the smitten Ray impulsively marries, and impregnates, her.
But those red flags continue to pile up, with Ray coming to suspect his sweetie might not actually be who she claims to be, and that the children she’s birthed might not be his. A trip to Lena’s Texas hometown dredges up a creepy fellow who claims to be her ex-boyfriend, and the fact that she’s not actually named Lena, as well as her impoverished parents, whose memories of “Missy” are quite divergent from what she claimed her childhood was like.
Things come to a head when Ray spots a suspicious hotel room charge on a credit card receipt. It seems Lena has been canoodling with Ray’s obnoxious pal Norman (Larry Miller) every Wednesday, which drives Ray to near-madness and lands him in an insane asylum. He comes to believe that Lena has carefully manipulated him from the start so she can take his money, but he figures out a flaw in her plan.
Nicholas Kazan plays it safe, turning out a film that’s staunchly plot-driven (with Lawrence Kasdan’s BODY HEAT being the evident template) and cinematically unadventurous. Those aren’t inherently bad things, but are pretty damning given the derivative nature of the script—a surprise given that Kazan’s previous screenplays, such as AT CLOSE RANGE, PATTY HEARST and REVERSAL OF FORTUNE, were anything but derivative.
Potential interest is generated by a dreamlike counternarrative depicting Ray at a spectral circus in which the events of the film are given a surreal summation, but it doesn’t overcome the lassitude of the narrative, and feels like an acknowledgment that the material isn’t sufficiently interesting on its own. The “shock” ending, in which the apparent flaw in Lena’s plan is revealed, likewise fails to liven things up, with a “clever” final sting that’s actually pretty weak.
Performance-wise Spader is adequate, with his standard method-y mannerisms kept in welcome check (a FILM THREAT interviewer praised Kazan for “keeping James Spader under control,” to which Kazan replied, “Thanks for noticing. It was a full-time job”), while Amick proves she had a film presence equal to that displayed in her more prominent TV work (such as TWIN PEAKS, C.P.W. and ER). I say “had” because she’s done shockingly little of note in the years since the release of DREAM LOVER, which should have heralded Amick’s ascendance to superstardom but for whatever reason didn’t.
Vital Statistics
DREAM LOVER
Polygram Filmed Entertainment/Propaganda Films
Director: Nicholas Kazan
Producers: Sigurjon Sighvatsson, Wallis Nicta, Lauren Lloyd
Screenplay: Nicholas Kazan
Cinematography: Jean-Yves Escoffier
Editing: Susan Crutcher, Jill Savitt
Cast: James Spader, Mädchen Amick, Bess Armstrong, Frederic Lehne, Larry Miller, Kathleen York, Kate Williamson, Tom Lillard, William Shockley, Carl Sundstrom, Irwin Keyes, Joel McKinnon Miller, Joseph Scoren, Archie Lang, Clyde Kusatsu, Alexander Folk, Michael Chow, Talya Ferro