I remember downloading this movie when I was a teen thinking it was gonna have sexy chicks in it. Then I saw Maggie Gyllenhaal. Instant delete. Keep in mind this was before high speed broadband, so it took me days to download.
Not that Maggie is ugly by any means, but that poster promised a lot more. They should've used someone with more sex appeal.
Have you watched the movie since then?
shareNone of the actors in this movie are considered conventionally attractive. It's about the attitude behind the sexual deviancy.
James Spade's a cool dude, but is he much of a looker? Creepy and aloof, but he pulls off any type of role pretty well in my opinion. He's more handsome in his overlooked 80s gems like "Jack's Back" and "Bad Influence" but in this movie he's more of an elegantly disturbed protagonist.
James Spader is more conventionally attractive than Maggie. Maggie is just painfully average.
shareI disagree on both points. Maggie at this time was actually very cute but unconventionally attractive. She looks pretty worn out today though. James Spader had a real WASPy/Yuppie attractiveness when he was doing movies in the 80s but by the time this movie came out he was more about strength of his brooding personality, plus he just looked and acted kinda creepy, which btw turns many women on.
shareEither way, clearly Maggie was meant to be the sexually appealing character in the movie. The poster is literally a shot of her bending over in a provocative way. I'm guessing it's a body double since Maggie's body isn't that attractive.
shareYou're guessing wrong and showing an obvious bias against her being in this movie. Btw, did you even watch it and see that she used her own body when Spader was spanking her phat ass?
You can easily Google "Maggie Gyllenhaal sexy body pics" and see how she looked in the late 90s/early 2000s physique-wise.
You’re right
shareI thought Maggie was cute when she was younger (this movie and Donnie Darko, basically). She didn't age well.
shareActually, even in this one she's painfull to look at, especially with no clothes on. What a hag!
shareApparently Gwyneth Paltrow was meant to be in the lead role, that would've made this more watchable.
shareAnother ugly featureless boy. Only weinstein would find her interesting.
What happened to sexy actresses playing sexy roles?
But yeah, better than Gyllenhaal, anybody including her brother.
Maggie was good for the role. She was supposed to be that way. They told an interesting story with two people not overtly gorgeous thus putting the focus on the situation for titillation. (I know lots a ladies who love Spader, though)
However, I too watched this for the promise of its cover and synopsis. There is more leg on that cover than in all the movie. If it had to be Maggie, fine. Just let me get a decent scene of some major leg exposure for the luv-a-god. Maggie has nice legs and they seemed criminally absent from the film.
So good movie with a false promise polarizing its viewers. 7.5/10
Paltrow would have been terrible. TERRIBLE!
I'd have been happy with Zoe Deschanel if it were what I went in expecting. But for what the movie turned out to be, Maggie was not wrong for the role. In the spirit of the story, I would maybe have wanted Gillian Anderson or Kate Blanchete.
She's actually really pretty in an old-school Hollywood sort of way, and still is----never understood why she's thought of as "unconventional-looking"---only by Hollywood standards is she considered that. She just wrote and directed her first movie called The Lost Daughter, btw. She did say in a recent interview that she's always preferred to play difficult, troubled women because she finds those roles more of a challenge to play. That's what's always made her an interesting actress for me to watch, imho.
shareSo it sounds like you didn't finish the movie. You really missed a good one. Oh well, we all make mistakes, no need to beat yourself up about it.
shareI think it works because Maggie doesn't have the cliche pretty face type, although her body is the classic hot shape.
shareShe's not too bad looking when she's dolled up.... pic - https://www.worldoffemale.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/maggie-gyllenhaal.jpg
thing is, they never have her looking sexy in her films. She always looks like an average girl in her movies.
I think Maggie has great sex appeal. But tastes change over time. I can't count how many women/celebs I didn't see the appeal in when I was a teen or early 20's, that I've completely reversed course on.
share