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To me, this movie is perfection.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

The acting in this movie is really good.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

I think the real surprise of "Bad Influence" is that James Spader's not the bad guy. He's actually the good one, or this movies version of one anyway. The real sleaze is the fresh-faced Rob Lowe, going full-psycho.This movie pulls you in because Spader's a weakling, whose fortunes really take a positive turn after a chance encounter with the supportive Lowe. It's nice to see someone take charge and make things happen in their life; but that only lasts so long before the relationship sours and things get really bad. But there's also the moral quandary involved (Spade can't go to the police because hands aren't exactly clean) and that keeps things from settling into a tired stalker/prey groove.A good script and stylish direction really make this stand out as a noirish thriller. The two leads (on paper) seem better suited to the opposite roles, but they pull it off. And even though the ending has its surprises, it still stays true to the story.The influence might be bad, but the movie isn't.

Michael Boll (James Spader) is a young stock broker executive being pushed around by rival Patterson. He's getting married to driven Ruth Fielding (Marcia Cross) but he's uncertain about it. Alex (Rob Lowe) rescues him from a beating at the bar. His brother Pismo is still struggling to overcome his drug dealing conviction. He runs into Alex again and falls into his murky world. Alex teaches him confidence as the psychopath Alex draws him deeper and deeper. He hooks up with Claire (Lisa Zane) and Alex splits him up from Ruth.Rob Lowe is an OK psychopath. Spader is probably even better. Also he has a larger range to play in this movie. Lowe smiles his way through this. He's a beautiful man. It takes a little too long before Alex's psycho ways get crazy dangerous. I wish they get to the dead body sooner because the movie gets better. However there are a few too many cheesy things going on.

This psychological thriller, puts a spin on it's story, compared to other thrillers around this time. Here's a new wave original, the first film I actually saw to start off 91, and I must say, I was not the least bit disappointed. Actually shown at the cinema, in it's M version, it's R version which I saw, made me glad to wait, till it hit VHS, which was primarily the reason I hired it. Wimpy yuppie Spader avoids a close shave with this big rough dude, in a bar, after discreetly trying to crack onto the girlfriend, although Spader, wasn't aware he was around. Not backing down, at the sound of a beer bottle cracking, in steps new dude, psychopathic, manipulative and charming Alex (Rob Lowe in his best role yet). He forms a friendship with Spader showing him how to live, but he doesn't know where this is leading. Michael (Spader) soon realizes Alex's fun can get out of control, costing him some embarrassment, a marriage, where he inexplicably gets involved in a robbery while intoxicated, where the final show has him been set up by Alex, for a murder, all of it Alex's spared amusement, until Spader, with help from his geeky drug addicted brother, who I liked, must outwit him and if necessary kill him. Lowe does help him though, overthrow a rival worker, who's been involved in some funny business at work, where later he's beaten up by Lowe. Now this rival buries his head, when he sees Spader in the hallway of their workplace. Violence is occasional but BI is a well steered machine, intelligently written with some smart dialogue, and Lowe's chillingly cool performance is worth the rental fee. Koepp went onto to wrote the 2002 hit, Panic Room. Marcia Cross, way before her Desperate Housewife days, is really cute as Spader's disgraced girlfriend.

James Spader again plays the yuppie character (Michael)whose comfortable but numb existence is thrown into chaos and then danger after meeting up with insane psycho drifter Rob Lowe (Alex). Michael has money, career prospects and a wealthy fiancée who he really does not love. Early scenes portray him as an intelligent but timid man who is henpecked by his wife to be and outsmarted by a sneaky co-worker in the race for a job promotion.Alex saves Michael from a bar room beating and when they meet up again Alex begins to pull Michael into the dark underbelly of the rich side of Los Angeles. At first Michael is happy to have Alex rearrange his life even managing to help abort his wedding plans in a hilarious scene. But when Alex beats up Michaels rival for the job promotion, claiming that an intoxicated Michael participated in the beating the friendship comes to an end. From this point on the mission for Alex is to destroy Michaels life ultimately framing him for a murder which is shown in an excellent "death by video" scene. Rob Lowes maniacal laughter as he stares into the camera post murder still chills me to the bone.From this point on it is a race to see who stays alive as Michael finally grows the balls that Alex had previously taunted him about.Another highlight is the eclectic musical score ranging from the LA underground club scene (Skinny Puppy, The Nymphs) to Etta James.Finally nice to see that the DVD has restored the bomb rigged to the car petrol tank scene. When the movie first came out on video in the UK the sensor removed this scene in case it was copied by someone!