Save your money for something good and enjoyable

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This is a very typical 90's Hollywood thriller. Glossy and very very predictable. It has a pretty good cast but the acting is wildly variable. Kevin Kline and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio are pretty unconvincing but Kevin Spacey, sporting strangely blonde hair, is usually worth watching and he does a very good job as the outwardly respectable but inwardly sinister new neighbour. The plot is as thin and as ludicrous as you would expect and the ending is laughably over the top. However there are some interesting moments along the way courtesy of Mr Spacey. This is a film that you watch once then forget totally about. Crushingly average and thankfully they don't make them like this anymore.

Alan J. Pakula's 'Consenting Adults' is A Decent Thriller! It has some catchy moments & convincing performances working for it.'Consenting Adults' Synopsis: A man is falsely accused of murdering his neighbor's wife.'Consenting Adults' has its share of minuses, but what makes most of the goings-on work, is its brisk Screenplay Written by Matthew Chapman. It has some good, catchy moments, that are note-worthy. Alan J. Pakula's is perfect. Cinematography is good. Performance-Wise: Kevin Kline is excellent. Has there ever been a better scene-stealer? Kevin Spacey makes a good menace, although he's been better. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is fabulous in a performance that ranks amongst her finest to date. Rebecca Miller is highly effective. Forest Whitaker is believable. On the whole, 'Consenting Adults' has merits.

Any number of Hollywood presentations stretch their plots to allow scenes that add thrills and give the actors a chance to "emote". CA takes this to another level, creating a universe where people do things for no particular reason except to keep the engine chugging along, pulling its strange cargo toward a requisite splashy finale. Along the way the movie becomes much like a creature that has passed through the transformation pods in "The Fly". You can kind of tell what was intended but the actual result is anything but pretty. Accompanying these oddities is the absolute stupidity required of the characters. At one point the lead, accused of one murder, discovers potential exculpatory evidence which he shares with an insurance investigator. This could save the insurance company 1.6 million dollars. The logical thing to do, of course, would be for the investigator, with the help of the police, to check this out saving the insurance company their money and eliminating the murder charge for the lead. But does the investigator follow it up? Well, that would be expecting these people to have high level thinking. High level in this case means what any reasonable person might think about. Since the characters in CA tend to have the thinking processes of turnips the lead follows up himself, resulting in yet another murder on his hands. However that does allow the requisite finale which is completed with the panache of a 5th grade play. The acting is fine, but plot holes and poor direction particularly of action sequences ruined the film.

From director Alan J. Pakula (All the President's Men, Sophie's Choice) this is an odd thriller film. Basically Richard Parker (Kevin Kline) and his wife Priscilla (Scarface and Robin Hood: Princes of Thieves' Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) have an ordinary life, and they meet new neighbours Eddy Otis (Kevin Spacey) and his wife Kay (Rebecca Miller). They seem to become friends quite quickly, and for some reason because Richard is looking at Kay quite a lot, Eddy seems to be okay about it, and knows he wants to have sex with her. He somehow manages to persuade Richard to get in bed with Kay and have sex, and not long after she is found murdered, Richard was set up for money. Richard is out on bail, and he wants to prove his innocence to detective David Duttonville (Forest Whitaker). Richard believes that Kay is still alive, and it all comes to a climax when Eddy, who I thought was creepy anyway, is trying to kill Richard. To be honest, it is a little random, and not the sort of film I had in mind, when it mentioned neighbours from hell, that's what I wanted, not this. Okay!