Bad Influence

Bad Influence

“Bad Influence” is like one of those old Charles Atlas ads. You know the ones, where bullies kicked sand into the eyes of the 99-pound weakling on the beach until Atlas came along and taught the wimp how to build some muscle? The only difference between these advertisements and this thriller is that a sadistic sociopath has taken over for Atlas. He walks into the life of a cowardly financial analyst, who gets more than he bargained for in assertiveness training.

James Spader plays this analyst, and his cool diffidence works perfectly in early scenes when an office bully hacks into Spader’s work and hides three months’ worth of it in the computer system. In return, Spader does what any normal coward would do: He crosses the street to a bar to have a beer. It isn’t his day. A big guy in the lounge is fighting with his girlfriend and Spader gets his face mashed into the bar when he looks at him wrong.

This is when Rob Lowe enters, breaks off a bottle at its neck and has a few words with the bully while waving its jagged edge near his face. The bully leaves. Over the next few days Spader becomes friends with this mysterious stranger who offers to teach him how to stand up for himself, which begins innocently as Spader outsmarts his rival in their office but gets more troublesome, then deadly.

“Bad Influence” reminds me somewhat of “Strangers on a Train,” Hitchcock’s film from 1951 where Robert Walker offers to trade murders with Farley Granger his father for Granger’s wife so they can both be rid of people they hate. Granger doesn’t take him seriously, but Walker sure is serious about it. Lowe has Walker’s smoothness in ”Bad Influence”, but unlike Granger, Spader doesn’t realize he made a deal until it’s much too late.

The movie sneaks up on you; at first you aren’t even certain where it’s heading: Maybe this will be about an innocent man being stalked by Lowe—or maybe not! Or perhaps Lowe wants something deeper than just sex? After all, it seems like every night he picks up girls from different Los Angeles underground bars using various identities and accents!

There are hints of homosexuality between them; Spader clearly likes Lowe who seduces him through compliments and friendship.

One night when both men are drunk together at their apartment after partying hard all week long while pretending like nothing happened during daytime hours because society says so the conversation turns serious as always does eventually between two bros sharing deep thoughts over drinks late into dawn’s light…or not really? Who knows what goes down behind closed doors! Anyway backtrack slightly here folks.

Lowe asks “What do you truly desire?” And then follows up immediately without waiting for answer “And additionally tell me what scares ya?”

To which our boy replies: “Marriage.” Even though there was no need since engagement ring already exists on finger intended solely for said purpose only (wink wink). This type makes sense though considering how peckish birds act around mirrors sometimes!

It’s impossible not to think of Lowe and his notorious sex tape scandal when he’s in bed with two girls, like in the scene at hand. In fact, I’d be tempted to believe it if he told me he was studying for “Bad Influence” because there are so many similarities between it and the Lowe video incident. There is also coincidence for believers as this is Spader’s first big role since “sex, lies, and videotape,” which would have been a great title for “Bad Influence.” But even though the movie has sufficient strength and the performances are convincing enough that real-life echoes never distracted me.

As with other thrillers that start out with an interesting premise, “Bad Influence” is more enjoyable during its setup than payoff. For at least an hour we don’t know what game Lowe is playing and only gradually does our understanding of his complete plan’s horror unfold. The climax releases much of suspense by becoming a more standard cat and mouse thriller, but I appreciated the final shots which were logically consistent within the plot without trying to pull off some cheap surprise twist I had been anticipating.

Movies like these raise questions; one such question kept cropping up: how does Spader do it? As a Los Angeles based broker (who needs to work when New York markets open), there is indeed a scene where he sits at his desk at 5:30 AM. Since night after night spent with Lowe turns him into a zombie in various bars, how can every morning see him looking like business school preppy fresh from sleep? At one point he gets drunk enough post-club closing hours that stores become targets but then sobers quickly realizing only hours later what happened.

Written by David Koepp and directed by Curtis Hanson ‘Bad Influence’ exploits much better than last year’s ‘Apartment Zero’ screenplay theme used therein: A passive hero falls under spell of virile man who enters life deceptively deadly. Self-parodic luridness characterized “Apartment Zero,” while sober direction gave us something closer to thoughtful study about Bad Influences’ relationship perhaps reflecting our times when strangers meet on film they’re usually hiding secrets from each other or worse still indulge perversions openly behind their backs!

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