SECRETARY ***
CAST: James Spader, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jeremy Davies, Lesley Ann Warren,
Patrick Bauchau, Stephen McHattie, Oz Perkins, Jessica Tuck, Amy Locane,
Mary Joy
DIRECTOR: Steven Shainberg
In this egalitarian age, would any woman allow her boss to spank her
for making typos? She would if she's a self-mutilating misfit recently
released from a mental institution and her sadistic employer is ever
so much more intriguing than the puppy-like simp she's been bedding
down with of late. What's more, she would dutifully submit to an astonishing
variety of emotional and psychosexual humiliations, never asking for
so much as a coffee break. So the story--adapted by Erin Cressida
Wilson from a novella by Mary Gaitskill--goes in this season's most
perverse, hilarious, upside-down romantic comedy.
Doris Day and Rock Hudson never had it so happy, not even in "Pillow
Talk." They just didn't know the rules of the hanky-spanky game played
so splendidly by James Spader, in his best turn since "sex, lies,
and videotape," and Maggie Gyllenhall, a thorough delight in this
breakthrough role. So what could possibly go wrong in their sado-masochistic
paradise? Here's what could go wrong--the bully boss could suddenly
give his secretary the sack, leaving her no choice but to marry the
boy bore. How sick!
Not to fret. Trust talented director Steven Shainberg to end this
bizarre, crazily endearing tale on a happy note. Unless you are totally
turned off by the notion that some people spend their time looking
for love in all the weird places, I think "Secretary" will give you
a spanking good time. |
