The Hollywood Spoof Movie is a grand tradition. For some. For me: it's an excuse to be absolutely ridiculous without much repercussion. Where as Airplane! and The Naked Guns proved not just a gold standard of not just spoofing but of comedy in general, the current set of parody movies, starting with Scary Movie and continued being trashed in any movie with the word movie in the title since then (exception being Scary Movie 3) have all but ruined spoofing. In the 90s, thanks to the Naked Gun, 2 Hot Shots! movies, and the great Mel Brooks, we had the twilight years of Spoof movies. And since Mel Brooks did it, we had Carl Reiner trying his hand at it with 1993's "Fatal Instinct".
Lampooning Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct, Body Heat, and a host of other 'erotic thrillers' was a great 'of course' idea since the early 90s was the commercial peak of the genre. With Carl Reiner directing and a hilarious title in place- the movie couldn't possibly fail, could it? And of course: it failed, making less than $8 million in theaters. Maybe people didn't want to see sexy movies in a goofy light, maybe people were confused because there was a takes-it-serious movie called Fatal Instinct with Michael Madsen a year earlier, maybe people realized that this was stupid, hackey jokes that are too easy to make. Fatal Instinct was rated PG-13 and, yes, it does pander to the audience as if they were deaf passengers on a plane being instructed on how their seats act as a flotation device.
That however- is through no fault of the movie's lead (and the reason for writing this entry) Armand Assante. Assante gravitates the gruff outlines of film noir sleaze with the imminment yet subtle fierceness. This allows his dialouge to really zing, as Assante delivers each line as if they were part of a grittier and more intense movie.
Where as Leslie Nielsen was the whole enchilada for the Naked Gun, Assante is the spicy after taste for Fatal Instinct. Playing it straight is the essential element of parody, and Assante is so straight that he becomes part of the movie. So, to a typical audience, we get what is known as Dewey Cox syndrome, where we believe the character too much that it clouds our vision of the overall spoofiness of the movie. It is why Charlie Sheen, in the way we would never take him seriously, was perfect for the Hot Shots franchise. Assante hits the stride in his character's gallup and takes the movie from a simple spoof into a spoof with some hair on its chest. Check out Fatal Instinct's ridiculous sex scene, and notice how Assante delivers the line "I forgot my keys", its so sharp and straight that it cuts the haha tone in half.
(also the best line in the movie goes to Sean Young- o baba loo)
Assante isn't a comedian by any means, but he is an actor by SUPER ULTRA MEGA means. He digs in too deep for a movie too shallow. The plot takes too many turns, cramming in too many parody storylines, but the acting of Armand Assante at least keeps the movie from turning into a call and response mess of Epic Movie proportions. Fatal Instinct- see it, don't see it- doesn't really matter much.
What's important here is that we recognize that though Fatal Instinct can be considered a failure, a reactionary impulse to the times- one that undermines itself with stale gags, Armand Assante's performance and reputation should not be sullied. He remains the palm tree you cling to during this storm. Armand Assante there is no blood on your hands. Your hands are clean.
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