rdoyle29 Lolita Davidovich runs into former boyfriend Steve Bauer and starts a steamy affair. Her husband John Lithgow has given up his psychiatric practice to raise their daughter, and she feels neglected as he devotes all his time to their kid. After a fairly bizarre series of dream sequences, she finds out her husband isn't who she thinks he is, kicking off an odyssey of psychotic twins, not-quite-so-dead fathers, murder, child kidnappings and split personalities.I have seen this film a couple of times, and thought it was a brave attempt that didn't really work. I've now watched the new director's cut, and while it fixes some problems ... it still doesn't work. It fixes one major problem by not front-loading a lot of reveals about Lithgow and allowing more of the film to play out as a series of revelations. However, the first part that now focuses on Davidovich, is a fairly incoherent series of scenes of her suddenly waking up and pulling the rug out from under the viewer. Strangely, this cut seems to think that the viewer will be surprised by Lithgow's true nature, but really ... it so badly telescoped that I can't imagine anyone not seeing every surprise coming a mile away.Truth be told ... many De Palma films relay on ridiculous plot twists and silly reveals, but they do so with style and elegance. This film ultimately fails because it substitutes weird, awkward staging and clumsy sequences where you expect elegance.

videorama-759-859391 The great DePalma is a wondrous god of suspense, only with this one, he's falling very short it it, throwing in the usual DePalma tricks. You'll spot these, especially if you've seen seen Body Double, where he's rounded up a couple of his Scarface favs, for this, great actor, Henry, one, especially wasted here, playing the good guy this time, as a cop, who honestly looks like he's rather be somewhere else. I for one don't blame him. Fantastic Lithgow, plays a father, who's taken way too much interested in his child, and "No" he's not a pedophile. He suffers from Split Personality, where he's alto ego, a cocky, tougher, gruff bad guy, his adviser, who I didn't particularly like, is the one pulling the strings. There are a couple of others, nearly all, you won't meet anyhow. His conditioned is only worsened when his wife, (Davidovich) is messing around, with younger hottie (Bauer) which sets him on a path of murder and setting Bauer up. What amazed me here, was there was no real surprises, where Lithgow's great performance, and Sternhagen's as an old criminal psychologist, these two deserved much better material. This is a very dreary and sleepy thriller where the sunny color format here, suited it to a tee. The last imaginary image with Lithgow donning a women's wig, kind of owe's it to us. Some De Palma fans will quite disappointed with this one. Like it, just for the actors.

nightlavender-92827 this is a good Saturday night feature to view! make some popcorn and get ready for a weird but fun ride. famous actors are in it which surprised me because it is a cheesy film but entertaining .not gory like today's offerings. it held my attention to the very end. give it a try and you just might enjoy it!

punishmentpark John Lithgow... hero. Brian De Palma... hero. And a combination of the two couldn't go wrong, right? Right! Again, Hitchcock is the first to be named as reference, but only for those who have never heard of De Palma... This time, it's 'Psycho' which is the main inspiration. In the middle things get pretty complicated, with all the dreams and incidents and whether or not something is actually happening or not, but all will land on its feet - more or less. And the finale is a beauty. As is Lolita Davidovich.Sure, the film has a certain TV-movie feel and look to it at times, the story is utterly twisting and Lithgow's acting is (apparently) not for everyone, but yours truly loves it all the more becáuse of just those things. One little thing I could object to, is that the Jenny character explains a little too much via voice-over - but what the heck.9 out of 10.