Never Talk to Strangers

She meets Antonio Banderas in a market, and despite being sexually and romantically distant from everyone, ends up in a torrid romance with him. About the same time, someone starts stalking her. While the sex scenes with Banderas are hot, it is a very poor thriller. The ending is weak, and there is no sense of escalating suspense because each red herring and each event is shown in a rather isolated fashion, so the film never really builds up any momentum.

DVD info from Amazon.

The DVD is bare bones, and an unsatisfactory transfer.

It is a wonder this film even got a theatrical release, as bad as it is.

The Critics Vote

James Berardinelli 1.5/4

Rotten Tomatoes summary. 0% positive.

movie review query engine. 21 reviews on file. If you can believe it, Berardinelli's 1.5/4 was the highest grade!

The People Vote ...

IMDB summary. IMDb voters score it 4.7/10

with their dollars: it grossed about $7 million in the USA.

IMDb guideline: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence, about like three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, about like two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, about like two stars from the critics. Films under five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film, equivalent to about one and a half stars from the critics or less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Based on this description, even allowing for the fact that I am a tough audience when it comes to thrillers, this is no better than a D.