THE RESIDENT
Sub-Genre- Psychological/Thriller
Cast Members of Note- Hillary Swank, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Lee Pace and Christopher Lee!
What's it About?- Hillary Swank is a doctor who needs a place to live. Jeffrey Dean Morgan is a creepy creep that has an apartment for rent... do you see where this is going? He's lonely, horny and mentally ill, she's dumb and a bit slutty... Get it yet? Long story short, she moves in, teases the creepy landlord, does it with him (I think), then kicks him to the curb to "work things out" with her ex-boyfriend. It's pretty much a recipe for disaster.
I'm pretty sure saying "let's be friends" to a mentally unstable psychopath is probably the worst idea ever. Those words can drive decent, gentle men into fits of rage, let alone a nut-job who jerks off in walls while watching women eat cereal or brush their hair. And once provoked, why snoop around trying to figure out "what's going on here?" Smile at him until he leaves, then quietly run put of the building and don't come back.
Of course there would be no movie if our heroine did this, so she stays and pisses him off. Libido's flare, tensions flare, Christopher Lee's arthritis flares... and we're left wondering if Hillary Swank can escape the evil clutches of rape-o the landlord. This is Hollywood though, so I mean you have to know how it's going to end.
The Good- This movie is like Fatal Attraction with pinches of Pacific Heights and Hider in the House thrown in for good measure. Really, the strongest thing going for the movie are Hillary Swank and Jeffrey Dean Morgan; Both are great actors and hold it down in this one, despite the fairly generic storyline. It's always nice to see Christopher Lee in action too, bless his aging little heart!
If you like the occasional by-the-numbers thriller, and don't really care if a movie feels rehashed and like it's been done before, then you should dig this one. It's safe, harmless, and entertaining enough. You'll want to love it more than you will, but you just have to take it at face value and not pick at it too much if you want to enjoy it at all.
The Bad- The last 15 minutes of this movie took away the feel of most of what came before it, as if the filmmakers felt they had to "Horror it up" a bit to finish strong. Not horrible, but it felt a little bit out of place.
The Downright Horrendous- Why in the world did she not call the cops once she realizes she's been drugged and that her landlord is creeping around in her walls? I mean, she installs some expensive cameras in her apartment because she's suspicious, but alerting the police or doing a background check on the guy or the building isn't a viable option? Weak sauce.
The Gory- We get some fun needle violence and some messy nail gun violence, but it's nothing too crazy.
The Naked- Hillary Swank has no problem either getting naked or bathing on film. Also, it appears as if she likes to lotion her body up all seductive-like on film too. Fine with us.
What did we learn?- Never move into any building if it means that Christopher Lee is going to be your neighbor. Also, There's always rats in the walls.
The Master Says- C+ For a direct to DVD thriller, this is a pretty decent movie. A solid cast helps of course, but beyond that, the movie gives us a straight forward story and manages to keep things interesting throughout, and builds the tension fairly effectively. You could do worse than adding this one to your Netflix queue. Then again, you could certainly do better too.Final Thoughts- Hillary Swank: sometimes I think she's really hot, sometimes not so much. It confuses me. Still, I think she's a "Do Want"... maybe...
