DEEP WATER (2022) – Review

So for the last couple of weeks, the box office has been dominated by the latest incarnation of a fabled comic book hero re-imagined, as many reviewers, including one from this site, noted as a dark (almost pitch-black) “noir” thriller. Ah, but there’s an element largely missing from it (no doubt to keep its PG-13 rating), which was a hallmark of many a classic “noir” (DOUBLE INDEMNITY, THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, and BODY HEAT spring to mind…RIP William Hurt) and that’s a dangerous and often deadly sexual attraction. Yes, “the Bat” and “the Cat’ share a smooch and longing gazes, but there’s no fogging of the Batmobile windows. Now if you’re in the mood for that, this weekend sees the release of such a tawdry tale, set in the real world, far from Gotham City. Oh, but one of its co-stars did wear the cowl and cape for a time. He may wish he still had that handy utility belt when seduction and murder threaten to pull him down in the depths of very DEEP WATER.

For all appearances, this modern opulent New Orleans home is occupied by a “picture perfect” family. Pretty-much retired tech inventor (deadly drones) Vic (Ben Affleck) peddles his bike in the mornings and tends to his greenhouse snails in the afternoon. His gorgeous younger wife Melinda (Ana de Armas) runs the house and tends to their adorable seven-year-old daughter Trixie (Grace Jenkins). Oh, but when the sun goes down, on most evenings Trixie is left with a sitter while her folks attend a big get-together (a pool party or a fancy dinner and drinks) with their equally well-to-do circle of friends. That’s where Melinda gets tipsy and openly flirts with her newest “boy toy”. Vic’s best bud Grant (Lil Rel Howery) is concerned (along with many others) that she’s making a cuckold of him. But Vic shrugs it off as her way of “acting out’ as she’ll go home with him. Oh, but there’s still lots of talk about how Melinda’s last “male friend” has gone missing. Still, things are strained back at their homestead, especially when Vic finds out that she’s paying thousands of dollars for piano lessons from a local entertainer, Charlie (Jacob Elordi). When an accident befalls him, a newcomer to the “party people”, author Don (Tracy Letts) becomes curious. Is this an idea for a possible new book or play or does he think that Vic is more than just a laid-back clueless spouse? Or could this be a twisted “game” to enliven a near-comatose marriage?

It’s interesting that this steamy bit of kink is actually anchored by the “ultra-cool” and quiet performance of Mr. Affleck. Last year saw him turn in some great supporting work in THE LAST DUEL (very funny, but as Stephen Colbert loves to say, “Nobody saw it!!”) and THE TENDER BAR (lovely, but criminally overlooked), but this is a reserved side of him little seen in his often high-profile leading man-type roles. His Vic is a passive aggression riddle leaving many characters confused, wondering if he’s a friendly joking “Joe” or if he’s oozing menace with a soft threat. It seems as though he only really cares about his daughter…and his snails. It makes us wonder if his passions ever “boiled to the surface” in his wooing of Melinda. As played by de Armas (so good in the last Bond flick, but so underused), she’s often a petulant child, seemingly less mature than lil’ Trixie. Plus Melinda is often indifferent with her offspring, raging at her favorite “kiddie” tune and telling Vic that “This is what you wanted”. But somehow de Armas makes her desperate cries for attention (piano dancing…really) more tragic than appalling (though certainly not appealing) as she flaunts her newest bit of “pretty plaything” or “hunk of the week”. Letts makes a good impression as the cynical writer who immediately smells something “fishy” and refuses to back down as Vic offers weak tepid explanations. Once again Howery is the “best bud”, though it’s not nearly as “meaty” as turns in GET OUT and FREE GUY (he proved a good lead in VACATION FRIENDS, so perhaps he can pass on the next “pal” part). And though he’s not given much to do, Finn Wittrock is a strong screen presence in the film’s final act.

Taking the director’s chair after a twenty-year “break is “Mr. Sexy-Cinema-time” Adrian Lyne. It’s no big surprise since the whole film seems like an early 1990s “psycho-sensual thriller-diller” mixed with a Southern Gothic vibe that would be in heavy rotation after midnight on “Skin-amax” (or perhaps a super “crossover” special of “Red Shoe Diaries” and “The Hitchhiker”). It all feels of a bygone more exploitive era as we’re treated to the antics of Melinda perhaps intended to shock and titillate. It’s all an attempt to distract from the too languid pacing and the turgid melodramatics. And it doesn’t help that the main characters are so morally repugnant. If Vic cares so deeply for Trixie then he needs to put more efforting into getting out of that squalid setting. But is he in an emotional S and M style bond with Melinda (their only passion occurs when she thinks he’s making eyes at Don’s much-younger spouse)? Even though he’s the closest to a “hero’ the plot has, Don’s dogged obsession is irritatingly clunky. Aside from Vic’s “drone-past” (which immediately fires up Don’s “radar), nobody appears to do anything other than “prep” for that night’s pricey party. It makes me wonder what the screenwriting duo may have reworked in their adaptation of the novel by Patricia Highsmith (STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY). I’d hope that it’s a more engaging and brisk “page-turner” than the overwrought and over-heated dismal DEEP WATER. Glug. Glug.

2 Out of 4

DEEP WATER streams exclusively on Hulu beginning on Friday, March 18, 2022