James Hitchcock Clay and Bridget Gregory are an affluent New York yuppie couple who supplement their income by a bit of drug dealing on the side. Their marriage, however, is not a happy one and after they make $700,000 on one deal Bridget steals the cash from her husband and flees to a small town near Buffalo. There she changes her name to Wendy Kroy and gets a job at the local insurance company. (Her new name is derived from "Wen Kroy"- "New York" spelt backwards). She begins a relationship with Mike, a young man who works for the same company, and evolves a complicated scheme to use Mike to get rid of Clay, who is desperately trying to track her down to recover the stolen money.I originally saw "The Last Seduction" when it first came out in 1994 and left it convinced that its leading lady Linda Fiorentino, so amply gifted with both beauty and talent, was going to become a major star. When I watched it again recently my main feeling was one of surprise that we have seen so little of her since. She did not even appear in the sequel "The Last Seduction II", in which the character of Bridget was played by Joan Severance. Here, however, her performance is absolutely electrifying. Bridget is quite shamelessly manipulative and deceitful, and so amoral that she verges on the psychopathic, but Fiorentino invests her with so much glamour and sex appeal that we can understand how a man like Mike might fall for her, even though he should be under no illusions as to her true nature. The other great performance comes from Bill Pullman, a man as devious as his wife and very nearly as clever.I initially wondered if the reason for Fiorentino's subsequent neglect by casting directors could have been that she got her big break too late- she was 36 when she appeared in this film- and therefore had insufficient time to establish herself as a major star before hitting 40, the age at which Hollywood starts to deem actresses as being over- the-hill and henceforward only suitable for "older woman" roles. On the other hand, this does not seem to have been a problem for Fiorentino's exact contemporary Sharon Stone, also born in 1958, who also got her big break in an erotic thriller, in her case "Basic Instinct", when in her mid-thirties. The film is an example of neo-noir, a type of thriller which takes the conventions of the original films noirs of the forties and fifties and adapts them to a modern style of film-making. "The Last Seduction" appears to have been inspired by one of the greatest films noirs, "Double Indemnity", which also featured a seductive, manipulative woman (played in that film by Barbara Stanwyck) and a character who worked for an insurance company. At one point the expression "double indemnity" is even mentioned in the script.The film is not quite as visually distinctive as some other neo-noirs such as "Body Heat", "Gorky Park", "Insomnia" or Polanski's "Chinatown", sometimes regarded as the film which started the neo-noir genre. In most other respects, however, it is excellent, with an ingenious plot, gripping action, some great acting and some sharp dialogue. It also has a vividly memorable anti-heroine in the shape of the glamorous, intelligent, resourceful yet utterly evil Bridget. I would rank it in the same class as that other great neo-noir from the nineties, "LA Confidential", which earned itself nine Academy Award nominations, including "Best Picture", and brought Kim Basinger an Oscar for "Best Supporting Actress". Certainly, there was talk of a "Best Actress" nomination for Fiorentino for "The Last Seduction", but in the event the film was not nominated for a single Oscar. This, however, had nothing to do with any lack of quality; it was ruled ineligible because it had been shown on HBO before it was released to theatres. Perhaps if Fiorentino had won, or even been nominated, her subsequent career would have been a lot more stellar. 8/10

blanche-2 "The Last Seduction" from 1994 is a modern noir that succeeds mostly due to the performance of Linda Fiorentino, who makes Kathleen Turner in Body Heat look like Zasu Pitts.Fiorentino plays Bridget Gregory, who steals a fortune in drug money from her husband (Bill Pullman) and goes on the run. She ends up in a small town, Beston, while getting gas for her car, and meets Mike (Peter Berg), a frustrated man who wants to leave Beston. He did live in Buffalo, but all he will say is that it didn't work out. He wears a wedding ring that he can't get off, though he's no longer married. He and Bridget become sex partners, though he wants a more meaningful relationship. However, she won't give him any information about herself.Bridget then gets a job at an insurance company and convinces the bosses to let her work under another name because her vicious husband is after her. She hatches a murder for hire scheme using insurance company records, targeting philandering men who have credit cards in the names of women other than their wives along with love nests, where she convinces the wives their husbands are better off dead. Mike is horrified and wants no part of it. He will have to be persuaded. Somehow.Some elegant twists in this noir, along with a dark, steamy atmosphere. Fiorentino is one of those unfortunate cases of stardom eluded, probably due to choosing parts and films that interested her rather than films that had commercial value. Many films she's made have not been able to get distribution.She is gangbusters as Bridget - beautiful, sexy, ruthless, possibly one of the most ruthless women ever in films. She liked the role because the character had no conscience and no vulnerability. It's a performance deserving of all the awards she was either nominated for or received, but Golden Globe and Oscar attention would have been nice.Good movie, highly recommended.

itamarscomix At first, The Last Seduction felt like a sleazy exploitation pic, but it quickly surpassed my expectations. John Dahl's film is a surprisingly sophisticated neo-noir, which addresses all the prototypes of the classic film noir, but places the femme fatale at center stage, and re-examines the character prototype, through the filter or more modern views on values and genders. The Last Seduction plays with the viewers' expectations, and with the way they view the characters and their actions.And aside from all that, it's a very well-paced, well-constructed thriller which keeps the audience interested at all times, slickly executing dialogs full of subtext and tension. Linda Fiorentino (is this seriously the same girl from Dogma?!) is phenomenal in the lead role, and Peter Berg more than pulls his weight too, though his character seems simple and flat at first it grows and develops throughout the film. The only real fault I can find is Bill Pullman's ridiculous performance - he should really stick to comedies. But he pulls it together for the finale, a deliciously wicked and satisfying conclusion that ties all the loose ends. Definitely recommended.

Dhruva Somayaji That's the word-surprise!!I just happen to watch the movie and never had any great expectations out of it. but damn!! it was really a good one.The plot might not look so great but the way in which the movie progresses and the deviousness of the lead actress unfolds is simply amazing.It has good amount of suspense, sex and most importantly thrill all toasted well.The lead actress is just brilliant in her acting as well as the body language. This movie has the quality and the qualification to be a good crime thriller!!