Dying Young (released in 1991) - Starring Julia Roberts, Campbell Scott and Vincent D'Onofrio

Based on a book of the same name, written by Marti Leimbach, Dying Young was directed by Joel Schumacher, and released in 1991. This romantic comedy, before its release, was pinned as one of the biggest blockbusters to release in the summer of 1991. However, after its release all it got was negative reviews. The star cast included Julia Roberts and Campbell Scott among others.
The movie opens with Hilary (played by Julia Roberts) making it plenty clear that she has next to no luck in the love and work department. Having broken up with her cheating boyfriend, Hilary, who now lives with her mother (played by Ellen Burstyn) decides to answer an ad in the papers, for an attractive woman with little (or no) work experience. Dressed in a red miniskirt, she decides to go try her luck for this job.
Without even an interview she gets selected to take care of a young man, who is shown to be battling leukemia. Donned with the duty of taking care of Victor Geddes (played by Campbell Scott) who is a 28 year old, rich and well educated man, Hilary becomes his live-in caretaker. However, she isn’t sure whether she is up for the task especially after having seen his reactions to chemotherapy. But, obviously she rises to the challenge, reads up on leukemia and tries to be a better homemaker/caretaker.
Over time, it is shown that Victor’s chemotherapy is complete and the two head down to the coast, where Victor has yet another home. All this while, Victor’s father hasn’t been given a strong role. He is shown to be indifferent at the most. The happy couple continues to live on the coast where their relationship evolves to love, all the while Victor doesn’t share with Hilary the fact that he has been taking morphine to hide the pain and that his chemo hasn’t actually been completed.




However, during one dinner party with friends, when Victor acts aggressively and later collapses on the floor, Hilary rummages through the garbage and finds the syringes. She confronts Victor and finds out the truth. She calls up Victor’s father and tells him everything. He promises to pick up Victor in the morning and take him to the hospital. Hilary and Victor have another talk, and Victor convinces Hilary that he will go back but wants to stay for one more party. Hilary agrees and goes to call Victor’s father to let him know, only to come back and find Victor packing his back in order to flee.
Yet another confrontation and “supposed to be” emotional declarations of how Victor has lost hope and Hilary loves Victor, take place. Hilary however finally convinces him to fight and get back to his chemotherapy. The movie closes with the two of them walking out of Victor’s house to go to the hospital.
Although nobody actually dies in the movie (young or old), the characters and their constant dribble of self-pity does make the audience die a little bit inside. The plot has a vague similarity to Pretty Woman, but without the fun elements or Julia Roberts contagious and vivacious attitude. While the movie is about a young man, his relation with his caretaker, and how they fall in love while he learns valuable life lessons from her; it fails to create the same warmth and humor as Pretty Woman.
Since Campbell Scott fails to generate any warmth or sympathy for his character, it would be wrong to blame Julia Roberts for lacking humor and vibrancy. The filmmaking itself is not too great, with dramatic effects being thrown in, without actually being seen through. Overall, the movie got negative reviews and after painfully sitting through more than one and half hours of this movie, one can understand why.

Sleeping with the Enemy (Released in 1991) - Starring Julia Roberts, Patrick Bergin and Kevin Anderson

Released in 1991, this psychological thriller is based on a novel of the same name, by Nancy Price. Directed by Joseph Ruben, the movie’s star cast includes Julia Roberts, Patrick Bergin and Kevin Anderson. Even though it was a box office success, the movie received many negative reviews. Especially since the beginning of the movie raises expectations of the viewer, only to make it come crashing down through the remaining one and a half hours of the movie.
The plot of the movie starts off with some hope. Laura Burney (played by Julia Roberts) is the wife of a millionaire investment counselor, Martin (played by Patrick Bergin). However, everything in their fancy beach house is not hunky-dory. Trapped in a marriage where she is used as a trophy wife, and then abused at home on account of Martin’s Obsessive Compulsive Disorders (OCDs) Laura is looking for a way out. She decides to fake her own death by pretending to have drowned in an accident, when the two of them go boating.
However, having made it known to Martin that she cannot swim, Laura pretends to have drowned and then heads home to grab her “go away” bag and flush her wedding ring down the toilet. She moves to Iowa, under a new name. She even had Martin believe her mother is dead, and then gets her shifted into a nursing home. In her new set up under a new name, she befriends her next door neighbour, Ben Woodward, who also happens to be a drama teacher at the University of Northern Iowa. But soon has to confide everything in Ben, since he finds out that her new identity is not real.
While her life seems to be gradually getting better, Martin gets a phone call at the office from the YWCA about Laura. From that phone call he learns that Laura had secretly been taking swimming lessons, and his doubts start to play up. He goes home and somehow finds the wedding ring in the toilet bowl. It apparently did not get flushed when it was supposed to. He then tracks down Laura’s “supposedly dead” mother and manages to pry information, about Laura’s current location, from her.



He then follows Laura who is seen with Ben to her home. But, before he does so, he visits Laura’s new home and in rearranges methodically Laura’s towels and kitchen shelves in a very “slasher-meets - obsessive compulsive behavior man” kind of way! Laura sees these rearrangements and begins to get worried. Martin having followed Laura and Ben home from a local fair, confronts her while brandishing a gun. What follows is typical, with Ben trying to intervene and getting knocked out in the process. Laura struggling with Martin, somehow managing to get the gun in her control and finally shooting him, after placing a call to 991 stating she has an intruder in the house.
Only Martin isn’t dead, and he tries to take the gun from Laura and shoots. But thankfully by then the bullets in the gun are exhausted along with the audience’s patience. Martin finally dies and Laura and the now revived Ben hug over Martin’s dead body which was holding Laura’s wedding ring.
Having started with some pretty impactful scenes, the movie raises the expectations of the viewer. But, soon it turns into a typical slasher movie. And halfway through, it goads the audience to do the one thing they should not do in such movies, and that is try to find logic. For example, why did that ring not flush itself? Or was that toilet left unused for so many days? Or why and how did the YWCA call up Martin on his office number? Or even what was the point of Martin tracking down Laura only to rearrange towels in her new home?
The movie seems watchable if one keeps their brains aside and doesn’t ask too many questions. But in complete fairness, all the actors have done a wonderful job, especially Julia Roberts as the battered wife looking for a way out. The movie could have been a lot better, and in the opening it feels like it probably is. However, it just seems to miss its mark and falls a bit short of expectations.

D-Tox (Also known as Eye See You) - Released in 2002 - Starring Sylvester Stallone, Tom Berenger, Charles S. Dutton, Robert Patrick

Born to win. Born to lose. Born to die. The supposed order in which all things happen in life, no interference is needed, but it does occur. A bizarre 911 call. An electronically engineered voice tells the operator she must not interrupt to ask questions, if she does - he will be obliged to be bad. The voice is that of a serial police & prostitute killer, who has been on the rampage… On the trail of the killer is FBI Agent Jake Malloy. Sadly, his partner is on the killer’s list and succumbs to the psychopath’s evil ways. As Jake goes to his dead partner’s home and reminisces, the phone rings. It is the same serial killer, who gleefully tells Malloy that now it’s his girlfriend Mary’s turn to pay for all discomfort Jake has called the killer. The voice adds that he is aware that Malloy has been on his tail for four years, when there was an alarming spate of murders of prostitutes.
Jake is spurred into action as he rushes to save Mary - but sadly, it is too late, for the woman is dead when he arrives at her house. The Seattle Police and the FBI cordon off the area where they suspect the killer is - he is discovered - dead. Malloy is sorely disappointed to learn that the man may have committed suicide - he’d have loved to get his hands on him. A few months later, Malloy slips into depression - sick to death of the losses he has suffered. He takes to drinking, and attempts to kill himself, albeit unsuccessfully. His friend Agent Chuck Hendricks (Charles S. Dutton) takes it upon himself to help Jake, and enrolls the Agent in rehab, specially set up for law enforcement personnel. It was founded by Dr. John Mitchell (Kris Kristofferson), who was also a cop and a recovering alcoholic. The centre is in Wyoming, and Hendricks stays on to see that Malloy will be okay on his own at rehab.




At the facility, Jake is introduced to many recovering cops and officers.  The staff include assistant to Jon Mitchell - Hank and kind hearted resident psychiatrist Jenny Munroe - with whom Malloy forms a bond. One day, the centre is cut off from the rest of civilization as a terrible blizzard shuts it down. There is a sudden, unexplained spate of unnatural deaths being made up to be suicides - patients Connor and Brandon are found dead by Jenny and Malloy. Both of them believe that trouble is afoot, as the dead men would’ve confided about being troubled, to either of the two.
Mitchell is equally flummoxed, and decides to lock up the other patients, as he reviews their cases. Just then he is informed that Jack Bennett (Stephen Lang) a mentally unstable employee, is missing - and so is a snowmobile. Bennett was once admitted to the centre for rehab. Malloy warns Jenny and counsels her to remain locked in her room; although all the inmates believe Jack could be the killer, yet Jake and Munroe think otherwise.
Jake thinks it would be wise to arm the men with weapons - just then, Hendricks finds a cop’s body in a lake. Who is the killer, and can Malloy stop him / her ? D-Tox was an out and out bore, the latter part of the twentieth century wasn’t kind to slasher thrillers and violence ridden tripe; the movie is tiresome and gruesome. Stallone shoudn’t have just let himself go in a desperate bid to prove his range to the world. The movie was an incredible flop.