Faithful (1996)

Directed by: Paul Mazursky

Starring: Cher, Chazz Palminteri, and Ryan O’Neal

Genre: Romance, Comedy, Crime

Rated: R

Maggie (Cher) is a rich housewife suffering from depression. She knows her husband, Jack (O’Neal) is being unfaithful, and on their twentieth wedding anniversary, decides to kill herself. Enter Tony (Palminteri), the professional hit man that Jack has hired to kill her. The film follows the blossoming relationship between captor and captive as they await the phone call signaling Tony to do the deed.

This is a slight twist on the cliché plotline of “spouse-hires-hit man-to kill-spouse.” For one thing, the hit man has issues that need to be explored and has various conversations with his therapist throughout the film. For another, he’s not supposed to be tempted to switch sides. Will he or won’t he?

They really tried to make the character of Tony likable, but I just found him quirky and clichéd. Palminteri overacts a little in places as well, making him a weaker character. I didn’t feel much chemistry between him and Cher either – which could have greatly helped the film. Maggie is a believable character, who becomes more likable as the story progresses and she becomes stronger. Cher gives her a strong presence, which takes talent as the character spends half of the movie tied to a chair. Jack – the husband – has no redeeming qualities, and it feels as though O’Neil didn’t even like the character enough to really portray him. His performance was very wooden – and the appearance of his character in the last third of the film took away from what little the film had going for it.

I really liked how Maggie becomes more empowered and recognizes it as the movie rolls on. She learns that she can be strong and Jack is just a waste of skin. The last third of the film is fairly predictable, but I liked the very ending – it didn’t end like I figured it would, with the typical sappy Hollywood conclusion. That made me happy.

This was an okay film, but some of the performances could have been better. The only character I really cared for was Maggie. Both the scenes between Maggie and Tony and the ending were done well, but the parts with the husband disrupted the flow of what could have been a higher rated film.

5.5/10