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One Night Stand

1997, Movie, R, 103 mins

One Night Stand: Review

ONE NIGHT STAND
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While not as emotionally grueling as LEAVING LAS VEGAS, Mike Figgis's latest tale of life, death and midlife crises is, in its own way, every bit as intense. Max (Wesley Snipes) is a would-be film director who's sold his soul to the dark gods of TV commercials in exchange for a shallow L.A. lifestyle, complete with a beautiful house, a beautiful wife (Ming-Na Wen) and two beautiful children. While in New York City on business, Max misses his flight home and winds up spending the night with a provocative stranger named Karen (Nastassja Kinski), an infidelity that unexpectedly awakens Max to the mendacity of his life. One year later, Max returns to New York to witness the slow death of his friend Charlie (Robert Downey Jr.), who's losing the battle with AIDS. There, at Charlie's bedside, Max has a surprising reunion with Karen, who just happens to be married to Charlie's brother (Kyle MacLachlan). Based on an uncredited screenplay by Joe Ezsterhas, this glum marriage-go-round suffers from the collision of two dissimilar sensibilities: Ezsterhas's somewhat cheesy version of a modern-day ronde and Figgis's soul-searching intensity aren't a natural match. That said, parts of the film are quite powerful. Snipes is given a rare opportunity to display his range as a dramatic actor with a mature, drum-tight performance, while Downey reaches a level of suffering rarely seen since, well, LEAVING LAS VEGAS. But it's not all downbeat: Figgis has great fun contrasting life on the two coasts as only a foreigner could, gleefully juxtaposing the skin-deep, kiss-kiss culture of the City of Angels with the gloomy glamour of the Big Apple -- clearly his kind of town. leave a comment --Ken Fox
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