Fatal Affair (2020) - USA (Netflix Original)
Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia)
There is a lot of problems with the latest Netflix’s romance suspense thriller “Fatal Affair” and its not the fact that it is a carbon copy of many 90s genre films and most importantly “Fatal Attraction”. Beside the fact that this kind of movie is exactly what you see and expect, filled with outright cliches, corny dialogue, unbelievable characters and as always a grand finale face-off with the psycho stalker and lover. Despite all that troubles, this is really the kind of film that the likes of John Travolta used to make in the 2000s and there is definitely fans for this segment of the market. For all it’s predictable nature, the film ends up being watchable if only forgettable as well.
Nia Long gets to play the leading role of fatal attraction here as the lawyer, mother and wife with a similarly beautiful family life on the table. In come the main nemesis and villain/psycho played in over the top manner by Omar Epps. Epps tries hard to deliver a convincing performance as he is forced to deliver cheesy dialogue and nonsensical situations and murdering. Former baseball star Stephen Bishop gives a steady presence and most probably flairs best out of the trio as the grounded loving husband.
All in all, “Fatal Affair” is really one of those genre films that is lost in time and the cliches just keep on coming. Not only do the audience become one step ahead almost at each plot twist, we get to see the cheesy scenes act out one after another just as we expected. It’s not all bad news, as Nia Long gives an intense performance that seems to belong to another movie. As for director Peter Sullivan, he seems to be struck within.m the Netflix sphere of low grade B-movies and unable to get out of the shell.
I rated it 5/10
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