Disclosure
A computer specialist is sued for sexual harassment by a former lover turned boss who initiated the act forcefully, which threatens both his career and his personal life.
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- Cast:
- Michael Douglas , Demi Moore , Donald Sutherland , Dylan Baker , Jacqueline Kim , Roma Maffia , Caroline Goodall
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Reviews
Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Excellent adaptation.
The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
Disclosure could have been a great movie. For its time, it probably was. All the ingredients are there - capable actors, an intriguing story, not to mention the erotic greatness provided by Demi Moore. She plays the boss of Michael Douglas' character, and she invites him to her office and proceeds to make sexual advances on him, then accuses him of sexually harassing her. The movie then goes into the mediation of these claims, and these are the best scenes because it really shows how people can instinctively side with the woman in these cases despite evidence pointing to the contrary. Moore's lawyer interrogates Douglas ruthlessly, asking him leading questions and bringing up their sexual history in order to make him look as guilty as possible. And on top of all that, Douglas is a family man so it's also taking a toll on his marriage. All of these elements work.What doesn't work is the cyber-thriller aspect. The computer graphics are HORRIFIC. Even for the '90s it looks bad; these days it looks like a glitchy Atari game. And one of the main plot lines revolves around Douglas receiving messages from an anonymous source on his computer, so a lot of time is spent looking at dated interfaces. The movie's climax goes a step further and throws virtual reality into the mix, and those scenes make the X-Files episode 'First Person Shooter' look like a visual masterpiece. It really takes you out of the movie, despite Ennio Morricone's best efforts on the music front.Disclosure is certainly watchable. It has some witty and clever dialogue, it deals with serious issues in a tasteful manner, and has a wonderful sex scene that will keep your eyes glued on screen even if you detest the rest of the film. Overall, Disclosure is a serviceable thriller, ending the Michael Douglas sex trilogy with a bang. Literally.
Splendid acting from Michael Douglas, Demi Moore and Donald Sutherland save a somewhat complicated and rather computer-technical plot which doesn't make a great deal of sense if we examine it too closely. Another drawback lies in the TV-style direction by Barry Levinson, who was certainly an odd choice for director. The movie was obviously produced on a multi-million dollar budget -- thirty- two million if I remember correctly -- so why hand the reins to someone with a tunnel vision who sees everything in facial close- ups? Even minor characters who are on screen for only a minute or so get the full, stand-alone, close-up treatment. At the end of the day, we have so many unimportant faces that close-ups force us to remember that it's difficult to even keep track of the plot, let alone focus our attention on which characters are important in this never-ending parade of who the dickens is who! Even right at the very end of the movie we are still being urged via distracting close-ups to take special note of newly introduced characters who have virtually little or nothing to do with the plot whatever!
Disclosure is a thriller directed by Barry Levinson that stars Michael Douglas and Demi Moore. It is based on Michael Crichton's novel of the same title.The cast also includes Donald Sutherland, Rosemary Forsyth and Dennis Miller.The film is a combination mystery and thriller about office politics and intrigue in the computer industry in the mid-1990s. Also,it includes the issue of sexual harassment.Tom Sanders is an executive at DigiCom, a leading computer software firm. The company is about to launch a new virtual reality-based data storage system that is expected to revolutionize the industry, and Bob Garvin, the owner of the company, is in the midst of negotiating a merger that could bring $100 million into the firm. However, while Tom is expecting a promotion, he discovers the position has been given instead to a new hire, Meredith Johnson, with whom Tom had an affair years ago, before he was married. After her first day of work, Meredith invites Tom up to her office and makes a concerted attempt to seduce him; while Tom doesn't fight off her advances with very much gusto at first, eventually he decides things have gone too far and leaves in a huff. The next morning, Meredith accuses Tom of sexual harassment, and he realizes this was merely a power ploy to get him out of DigiCom for good; Tom, determined to fight, files a counter-suit, which makes him no friends at the company, since rocking the boat too hard could very well scotch the merger.The story takes some clever twists and turns as it develops into a full- fledged psychological thriller that is effective and gripping, if occasionally contrived as a result of over-plotting.The film is genuinely gripping and well-written.As for the performances,Moore makes an awesome femme fatale while Douglas triumps over evil in a big way.But it is a watchable film as well.
Disclosure is directed by Barry Levinson and co-adapted to screenplay by Paul Attanasio and Michael Crichton from Crichton's own novel of the same name. It stars Michael Douglas, Demi Moore, Donald Sutherland, Roma Maffia, Dylan Baker, Caroline Goodall and Rosemary Forsyth. Music is scored by Ennio Morricone.Tom Sanders (Douglas) is an executive at DigiCom, a high-tech computer company, who hopes that now it's finally his time to get promotion. Passed over for an outsider, he's further irked when it turns out to be Meredith Johnson (Moore), an old passionate flame of his from years previously. When Meredith arranges for a meeting between the two later that evening, Tom finds himself sexually harassed by her. Spurning her aggressive overtures, Tom is shocked to learn the next day that she has filed a charge of sexual harassment against him. He naturally counters the charge, but this opens up a can of worms for both him and the future of DigiCom.The 1990s practically belonged to Michael Crichton, it seemed for a time that everything he wrote was adapted to the big screen for some form of entertainment. With Jurassic Park still warm and still garnering bucket loads of cash, two other Crichton adaptations worked their way into theatres; both of which were a world away from the family friendly extravaganza of Jurassic Park. One was Rising Sun, a messy wasted potential of a movie, the other was Disclosure, a zeitgeist snatcher that seized the moment. The topic, and the novelty of flipping the gender aggressor, was always going to make Disclosure of much interest, thus the film and the novel made big money: aided still further by the hot casting of Douglas and Moore, who were still draw cards in the early 90s. Crichton, after being displeased with other adaptations of his work, got big say on the screenplay as a written project. So with director Levinson in tow, he set about pushing the buttons of his audience, attempting to continue the heated debates that were brought about previously from Douglas' Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct. If it's Crichton's or Levinson's fault that it didn't work out that way? I'm not sure, but fact is, is that Disclosure really wasn't that potent back then, and certainly now it's not even lukewarm.There's too much techno babble going on, and an over keenness to stick the nose up at the big business vultures picking the flesh off of the lesser minions. Entering the last half hour of the film, it's easy to forget there has actually been a sexual harassment case! Here's the crux of the matter, if going in to it for a first time viewing expecting this to be a powder-keg of sexual harassment muckiness and legal intrigue, then you are in for a big disappointment. I know, because I was one of the paying patrons at the theatre back in 94! You sense that one of the makers got a bit carried away Yet the film still has much going for it if stripped of that expectation, not least that it packs a pile of tension in that last half hour and the finale is rather rewarding. I'd go as far to say I'm a fan of the film, but it's not the film I originally went to see! There's a trio of interesting and differing female characters at the front of the narrative, even if Moore's stair-master vixen isn't exactly developed beyond being a bitch, and the virtual reality sequences have an appealing charm about them. The cast are turning in good ones, with a notable shout out to Caroline Goodall who wisely underplays it as the wife. While the interior set design (Gary Lewis/Joseph Hodges) for the DigiCom HQ is wonderful with its 90s excess of glass meeting mirrors and open spaces. Which leaves us with what?A film that is not what you expect! Which in this case is both disappointing and a surprise. 7/10