Good Dreams

In the 1990s, it seemed James Spader was always getting himself into one kinky fix after another. In 1993 it was Dream Lover in which he falls for the beautiful but duplicitous Madchen Amick. The first half of this film is intriguing and it's fun watching the two actors together. The second half is very silly but entertaining.

Spader plays a wealthy architect called Ray. He meets Rena (Amick) at an exhibition for his obnoxious artist friend played by Larry Miller.

He runs into her again, seemingly by chance, at a supermarket. Soon they're sleeping together and the film rapidly jump cuts through marriage and the births of their first two kids. Through it all, he's seen little hints of something awry. Strangers seem to recognise her as someone called "Sissy". She fails to remember her college dean. He finds out she's been checking into a hotel room every Wednesday.

The two halves of the film almost feel like different movies. In the first half, he tracks down her parents--in Texas, not Ohio, where she claims to be from, and he finds out her real name. She admits to constructing a whole new name and persona but still claims to love him. In the second half of the film, she turns out to be a complete psycho and Ray ends up in a mental institution where she routinely drops by to taunt him.

To prove his innocence, he can only think of calling Larry Miller to the stand and not her parents or her ex-boyfriend.

Spader's always good in the film, alternating between bemused, increasingly alarmed, and enraged. Amick always seems like Shelly Johnson playing pretend. But that's really cute.

Dream Lover is available on The Criterion Channel until the end of the month.

Twitter Sonnet #1710

As strange was speeding round the bank of stars
Ideas began to pierce the lightning skin
Around the sagging wallet, waiting cars
Remind the dreamer late to squash the din.
A helpful spider spilled a mug of rum.
Reminders blur in double names of maids
With watchful pairs we make a suited sum.
A fertile plain was rife with hornet raids.
Concealing furs requested trade to start.
With options close, desire flipped a mouse.
Incisive grips report the ladder's heart.
With every case, the pencils build a house.
The heart and spade collide for diamond clubs.
In whiskey seas we drown the haunted pubs.