Rating: 
Summary: The rise and decline of the American Empire.....
Review: For movie buffs, there was one particular scene in this movie that is just too good to pass by, and needs elaboration. Many other reviews detail the film admirably, so I would like to just focus on this one scene, which in any case epitomises both the thrust of the movie, and a certain general failure of late 20th century America, at least for me.The scene begins with the family of the murdered husband sitting around quietly and solemnly in the deceased's loungeroom, not long after he had been found dead. In the background the sound of the Star Spangled Banner is playing quietly on late night TV. (This part of the scene is unusual in itself-how often do you see a bunch of actors/actresses sitting round not really doing or saying anything, and yet their behaviour and the moment be so poignant-the gathering together of loved ones at the death of their beloved?). Nicole Kidman, as the wife and murderer of the deceased husband, stands silently by. Outside, some TV crews arrive, with lights, cameras and commotion. Slowly the gaze of the murderous wife turns to the commotion from outside. She starts walking to the door. The music of the Star Spangled Banner gets louder, and the scene goes to slow motion to reinforce the magnitude of what is about to happen. The detective turns and says to her, very pertinently. "You don't have to go out there ma'm". She looks at him as if in a dreamworld, and keeps going. As she nears the door, the sound of the Star Spangled Banner grows deafening, she sees the lights, the attention, as she looks out bright eyed and childishly at a world ravenous to give her the attention she craves. So a murderer, has now become the fulfilment of the American Dream- the fame and fortune of the brave and the free- has been given to the murderous and the perverse. Television and the media, what a failure you are to America. To me this scene says much that is wrong about the modern world, the pervasiveness of tabloidism in the media, and a society which seems either unwilling or unable to do anything about it. One of the all-time great scenes of the movies. See it again for yourself. Watch the details of what the actors/actresses and director achieves.
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant Dark Comedy of a Hyper-Ambitious Career Gal
Review: Funny, edgy, and tragic, Van Sant presents us with a brilliant portrayal of society's naked ambition and hunger for fame and notoriety. The movie was funnier and more satirical than the book. Kidman is great as Suzanne Maretto--she's evil incarnate disguised as a cute, perky blonde with a penchant for bright, sunny-colored, coordinated outfits and loud makeup. On the night Larry was killed is when we first see her wearing a dark color. Underneath the Barbie doll is a despicable, dastardly soul hungry to join the ranks of Barbara Walters and Connie Chung. At the same time, we know that Suzanne, for all her disturbed efforts, will never, ever make it in big-time broadcasting. She doesn't have the smarts or the savvy, but in her warped mind, she thinks it is her husband Larry that's holding her back. Kidman is especially brilliant when her Suzanne tries so hard to be professional when delivering the weather reports, but ends up sounding silly and amateurish. Kidman is also great during the cocktail scene with the dirty old network executive and his sycophants, because she makes Suzanne sounds so cluelessly stupid. Additionally, I am amazed at how well Kidman mastered the American accent. Joanquin Phoenix rivals Kidman's performance with his portrayal of the dim metalhead Jimmy Emmett, Suzanne's teenage loverboy and husband assasinator. Alison Folland is also superb as the overweight misfit Lydia Mertz, who is dazzled and bewitched by Suzanne. The movie format is that of a series of interviews of the main characters, tied together with continous commentary by Suzanne which turns out to be a video she is making for her interview with a big-time network executive. It is Suzanne's over-inflated ego and delusions of grandeur which renders her blind to evil in herself and in others; she fails to see that the bigwig network executive is a cold-blooded killer like herself. Joyce Maynard, the author, makes an Alfred Hitchcock-like cameo appearance in the film as well. For me, the most chilling part (no pun intended here) was seeing the frozen body of Suzanne underneath the ice in her little coral pink business suit and gold Monet jewelry. One of the most hilarious and telling scenes was the shot of Faye Stone (Suzanne's overshadowed sister) and Janice Maretto as bridesmaids in Suzanne's wedding. As Suzanne's bridal bouquet sails through the air, these two bridesmaids deliberately move away to avoid catching the flowers. Another fun scene was Janice Maretto skating blithely across the pond that has become Suzanne's tomb. She was the perfect character to end the film with, as she was the only one who immediately saw through Suzanne's cutesy facade.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent satire of media careerism.
Review: Gus Van Sant's approach is to tell the story in the manner of a TV documentary. It's an approach that works, particularly as it concerns the character Suzanne Stone (Nicole Kidman in an uncharacteristically compelling performance) who, obviously raised on TV, has almost pathological aspirations of being a TV celebrity. Outside of her bizarre celeb/TV wonderland fantasies, she exhibits very few signs of humanity. Every facet of her personality is carved out of TV moments and personalities, from her cooking, her dress sense, even to her choice of surname. It's these aspirations that lead to deception, and murder. In Van Sant's hands, it's a skilful (although ice-cold, literally) satire of the nature of television, the self-obsessed nature of careerism, the deception of appearances, and identity. Despite its blackly ironic, insidiously dark conclusion, it's a superb comedy shot through with bleak irony and deft wit, and with a terrific sense of cynicism of the main protagonist. A cameo appearance from none other than schlock-horror master David Cronenberg also makes this well worth watching.
Rating:
Summary: You're not getting it
Review: I just love this movie, and I think the reviewer doesnt understand it ! First, it's nothing but a comedy, even though you laugh quite a lot. But this also shows that, whatever happens, it's not the adult, pretty and intelligent one who pays. It's the young banal and quite slow kid. I think that's what Gus Van Sant always wants to show in his movies. God ! I love Gus Van Sant !
Rating:
Summary: Empathy for the Evil Queen
Review: I want to qualify this next statement by saying I have not seen his version of "Psycho". With that aside I would like to say that "To Die For" is Gus Van Sant's best film to date ("Drugstore Cowboy" is his second best). The Buck Henry screenplay is what makes it so good. Suzanne Stone (Nicole Kidman) is genuinely evil, there is no doubt about it. She is the personification of unbridled ambition, willing to do anything to gain her desired goal. But she is more than just the villain of the movie, she's is the primary sympathetic character. That's the ambiguity that makes this a "good" black comedy. She has a predatory mammalian intelligence that makes her dangerous, but she is also naive and just plain none-too-bright at times (though the movie doesn't abound in overly intelligent characters). And, I have to admit, Nicole Kidman has never looked so good to me, though attractive in a kitschy-kitten sort of way (I'm heterosexual, but I tired quickly of her repetitious nude screen in "Eyes Wide Shut") . The sad depths of how far she was willing to go to achieve her ambition is best shown by the scene directly after her job interview at the little local cable station. In this scene she pulls a letter-sized envelope out of her purse, rips it up and throws it in a garbage can out front. We don't know what's in the letter -- no letter was shown to us earlier -- but we can assume it contained an explicit promise for sexual favors along the lines of a letter she heard about, a little earlier in the film, in a story told by a journalist (George Segal) -- a letter that had helped some unidentified, though supposedly famous, news woman land one of her first important jobs. Suzanne's husband (Matt Dillon) decides, after a year of marriage, that she has had her fun playing the weather girl down at the cable station, but she must now give that up so she could be with him at his' and his father's restaurant. Even though this is the event that precipitates his demise -- her preeminent evil act -- we, the audience, can feel how robbed she feels. At no point in the movie is she more a metaphor for the misunderstood artist, thwarted by the small-mindedness of others. She sits stunned and submissive in her chair as he tells her what her life is going to be like from then on, attempting to separate her from the dream that has defined her for as long as she can remember. It is assumed, throughout the movie, that Suzanne does everything out of selfish motives, but here we see he has been equally false, marrying her without really believing in her aspiration to be a news woman, supporting her in her dream for only a short time, then pulling it away when she feels she might be getting somewhere . . . though she had duped herself, as usual, about how well her career was actually going. Suzanne Stone is the evil one in the movie, but none of the other characters are all that good. In many ways she is the "scapegoat" that redeems them. All the exploitative press about her crime spawns celebrity status for the cable station manager (Wayne Knight), a prestige he seems to enjoy, though he had always made light of her ambition for fame. Her sister-in-law (Illeana Douglas) -- who desires to be a skater (from her first scene she appears to be not particularly good at it), and is also depicted as competing with Suzanne for the spotlight -- describes Suzanne as being "cold". Yet the very last shot of the movie shows Douglas's character skating on the lake where we -- and we expect she too knows -- her evil sister-in-law is buried beneath the ice. I wouldn't say such an act -- to dance on one's grave, so to speak -- is especially "warmhearted".
Rating:
Summary: Empathy for the Evil Queen
Review: I want to qualify this next statement by saying I have not seen his version of "Psycho". With that aside I would like to say that "To Die For" is Gus Van Sant's best film to date ("Drugstore Cowboy" is his second best). The Buck Henry screenplay is what makes it so good. Suzanne Stone (Nicole Kidman) is genuinely evil, there is no doubt about it. She is the personification of unbridled ambition, willing to do anything to gain her desired goal. But she is more than just the villain of the movie, she's is the primary sympathetic character. That's the ambiguity that makes this a "good" black comedy. She has a predatory mammalian intelligence that makes her dangerous, but she is also naive and just plain none-too-bright at times (though the movie doesn't abound in overly intelligent characters). And, I have to admit, Nicole Kidman has never looked so good to me, though attractive in a kitschy-kitten sort of way (I'm heterosexual, but I tired quickly of her repetitious nude screen in "Eyes Wide Shut") . The sad depths of how far she was willing to go to achieve her ambition is best shown by the scene directly after her job interview at the little local cable station. In this scene she pulls a letter-sized envelope out of her purse, rips it up and throws it in a garbage can out front. We don't know what's in the letter -- no letter was shown to us earlier -- but we can assume it contained an explicit promise for sexual favors along the lines of a letter she heard about, a little earlier in the film, in a story told by a journalist (George Segal) -- a letter that had helped some unidentified, though supposedly famous, news woman land one of her first important jobs. Suzanne's husband (Matt Dillon) decides, after a year of marriage, that she has had her fun playing the weather girl down at the cable station, but she must now give that up so she could be with him at his' and his father's restaurant. Even though this is the event that precipitates his demise -- her preeminent evil act -- we, the audience, can feel how robbed she feels. At no point in the movie is she more a metaphor for the misunderstood artist, thwarted by the small-mindedness of others. She sits stunned and submissive in her chair as he tells her what her life is going to be like from then on, attempting to separate her from the dream that has defined her for as long as she can remember. It is assumed, throughout the movie, that Suzanne does everything out of selfish motives, but here we see he has been equally false, marrying her without really believing in her aspiration to be a news woman, supporting her in her dream for only a short time, then pulling it away when she feels she might be getting somewhere . . . though she had duped herself, as usual, about how well her career was actually going. Suzanne Stone is the evil one in the movie, but none of the other characters are all that good. In many ways she is the "scapegoat" that redeems them. All the exploitative press about her crime spawns celebrity status for the cable station manager (Wayne Knight), a prestige he seems to enjoy, though he had always made light of her ambition for fame. Her sister-in-law (Illeana Douglas) -- who desires to be a skater (from her first scene she appears to be not particularly good at it), and is also depicted as competing with Suzanne for the spotlight -- describes Suzanne as being "cold". Yet the very last shot of the movie shows Douglas's character skating on the lake where we -- and we expect she too knows -- her evil sister-in-law is buried beneath the ice. I wouldn't say such an act -- to dance on one's grave, so to speak -- is especially "warmhearted".
Rating:
Summary: A True Story
Review: I'm not sure if this movie was based on the real-life incident that occured on Easter Sunday, 1994, with the convicted and sentenced high school teacher, Diane Borchardt, who was a ray of sunshine at the school, but a miserable and abusive step-mom and wife at home. Her husband couldn't take it anymore and started a relationship with another woman. And when Diane found out, she went crazy and began terrorizing her husband and the woman while she seduced one of her students to murder him. It was made into a made-for-cable movie and is often aired on Lifetime Network. "To Die For" was a bit different, but still enjoyable.
Rating: 
Summary: Can't think of a good thing to say about it
Review: I've seen it on VHS, I'd heard that it was rated highly, can't think of anything good to say about it. I didn't like ANY of the characters, maybe they all needed to be knocked off,not just Nicole Kidman's news woman. Thoroughly unpleasant movie, Nicole Kidman is better in The Peacemaker with George Clooney, Joaquin Phoenix is better in Gladiator, save your money don't get this one.
Rating:
Summary: Nicole was robbed
Review: If there was ever a reason to suspect how "impotent" Oscar has become,this is the movie. Nicole's performance was one of the best of the year, tightly controlled, never begging for audience sympathy and a sharp critique of the quest for stardom and notoriety. For some inexplicable reason, even after winning the Golden Globe, she didn't even get an Oscar nomination. Shame! In this film she mixes together, most deliciously, the collective "wit" and "intelligence" of such "newsbabes" as Ms Shriver, Ms Walters and Ms Sawyer who still report all news as though the loss of a button is equal to the loss of a life. After watching this film I started referring to Tom as Mr. Kidman. Ileana Douglas is also in the film and is the perfect antidote for Kidman's character. A beautiful film in the vein of American Beauty with it's unblinking eye focused on American life and the American experience.
Rating:
Summary: She's a four letter word and it starts with a C---Cold.
Review: Ileana Douglas delivers this incredible line that sums up this amazing film when I knew that Nicole Kidman was a force to be reckoned with. She is an amazing actress who so succinctly pulls off an incredibly hateful character. To watch her scheme and manipulate to further her TV dreams is amazing. As the script and director show the warping that TV creates and the insane frenzy to be on Tv people laugh but all of the reality shows prove this to be true. People will do anything to get onto television, even destroy themselves or the sanctity of marriage or relationships.
This insight into the minds of such people isn't so fictitious.
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