To Die For Review (1995)

	To Die For
Year:	1995
Director:	Gus Van Sant
Stars:	Nicole Kidman, Matt Dillon, Joaquin Phoenix, Illeana Douglas, Kurtwood Smith, George Segal, David Cronenberg
Genre:	Comedy, Drama
Rating:	5 (from 3 votes)
Review:	This is the story of the rise to fame of a TV weathergirl (Nicole Kidman), who did not gain renown simply by presenting the weather on TV, but by murdering her husband (Matt Dillon) to become the media celebrity she thought she deserved to be. To Die For is a long-winded, shooting-fish-in-a-barrel satire which is never as clever as it thinks it is. Kidman's performance is too knowing, and the film basically tells you exactly what will happen during the first fifteen minutes, leaving the rest of the film for this to be repeated at a snail's pace. You could say it's as heavy-handed a criticism of the media as Natural Born Killers. That Buck Henry wrote the script makes it a bit of a disappointment, especially as this, ostensibly based on a true story (from Joyce Maynard's book) had scope to say so much more about our society than simply that ordinary people are idiots and get the pandering media they deserve. George Segal has a nice cameo, though. And watch out for David Cronenberg at the end. Music by Danny Elfman.
Reviewer:	Graeme Clark
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Gus Van Sant (1952 - )

Vaguely arty American director whose films rarely seem quite as satisfying as they should. Drugstore Cowboy remains his best effort, Even Cowgirls Get The Blues undoubtedly his worst. My Own Private Idaho, To Die For, Columbine shootings-based Elephant and Kurt Cobain-inspired Last Days have their fans, and Good Will Hunting was a big success, but the scene-for-scene Psycho remake must be his oddest venture. After a decade of experimentation, including desert trek oddity Gerry, he returned to the mainstream in 2008 with the award-winning biopic Milk then reverted to smaller projects once more, including biopic Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot.

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