THE TEMP intrigued me from quite some time. Not just because I am a fan of Timothy Hutton but also because it has a low score of 5,2 (when I saw it two months ago it was 5,1) and only 28 reviews mostly negative. Last June I finally saw it and, to my surprise, I liked it very much and couldn't see the same things most of the reviewers saw in this one.
Peter Derns (Hutton) is a young executive in an advertising company that is tasked by his boss Charlene (Faye Dunaway) to make a new ad for a brand of cookies and of cookie jars but since Peter has been treated recently from paranoia he is afraid of not making the deadline in time: to his surprise he is assigned a freshly graduated secretary named Kris Brolin (Lara Flynn Boyle). As you might have guessed, not everything goes smoothly, especially when one employee has a trouble with the paper shredder, Peter's rival Hartsell (Oliver Platt) is found dead with a wasp sting in his car and another employee is found hanging in his office apparently suicide but surprisingly enough, all these deaths give him unexpected promotions.
Thinking he has been framed and gaslit Peter investigates on Kris and whey they go on route to a bakery, Peter's brakes have been tampered but nonetheless he manages to arrive safe to an hotel and check in, and soon he is called for an emergency at the bakery: once there at night Peter finds a dead security guard and Kris that looks like she has suffered a concussion. He is suddenly hit in the head by an unseen assailant and Charlene and Kris fight to the point that Charlene falls from a plank to her death. Months later Peter is made president of the company and after confronting Kris one last time he realizes that she is no other than a master manipulator and sociopath who probably staged the bakery accident for killing himself along with Charlene, and for getting rid of Kris once and for all Peter orders security for taking her out.
I felt in the minority when I looked the reviews for this because it's actually very good. The acting was very good, not surprising with Timothy Hutton, Faye Dunaway and Oliver Platt. And, just like many other thrillers of the 1990s, it has lots of suspense moments: I especially loved the parts of the car with the broken brakes and the bakery part at night, the latter was kinda gloomy. And when it was over... I felt better for Peter because he finally understood that Kris wanted to ruin from the start.
If you stumble upon it give it a try because if you are into 1990s thrillers or obscure movies you might actually like it like I did. And don't trust most of the reviews before seeing it.
Peter Derns (Hutton) is a young executive in an advertising company that is tasked by his boss Charlene (Faye Dunaway) to make a new ad for a brand of cookies and of cookie jars but since Peter has been treated recently from paranoia he is afraid of not making the deadline in time: to his surprise he is assigned a freshly graduated secretary named Kris Brolin (Lara Flynn Boyle). As you might have guessed, not everything goes smoothly, especially when one employee has a trouble with the paper shredder, Peter's rival Hartsell (Oliver Platt) is found dead with a wasp sting in his car and another employee is found hanging in his office apparently suicide but surprisingly enough, all these deaths give him unexpected promotions.
Thinking he has been framed and gaslit Peter investigates on Kris and whey they go on route to a bakery, Peter's brakes have been tampered but nonetheless he manages to arrive safe to an hotel and check in, and soon he is called for an emergency at the bakery: once there at night Peter finds a dead security guard and Kris that looks like she has suffered a concussion. He is suddenly hit in the head by an unseen assailant and Charlene and Kris fight to the point that Charlene falls from a plank to her death. Months later Peter is made president of the company and after confronting Kris one last time he realizes that she is no other than a master manipulator and sociopath who probably staged the bakery accident for killing himself along with Charlene, and for getting rid of Kris once and for all Peter orders security for taking her out.
I felt in the minority when I looked the reviews for this because it's actually very good. The acting was very good, not surprising with Timothy Hutton, Faye Dunaway and Oliver Platt. And, just like many other thrillers of the 1990s, it has lots of suspense moments: I especially loved the parts of the car with the broken brakes and the bakery part at night, the latter was kinda gloomy. And when it was over... I felt better for Peter because he finally understood that Kris wanted to ruin from the start.
If you stumble upon it give it a try because if you are into 1990s thrillers or obscure movies you might actually like it like I did. And don't trust most of the reviews before seeing it.