Synopsis
Ned Ravine is a police officer and lawyer who occasionally defends the delinquents he arrests. He crosses paths with seductive Lola Cain during an assignment and promptly begins an affair with her. Meanwhile, Ned's wife, Lana, is deep in an affair of her own. Lana and her lover are planning to murder Ned in an elaborate fashion so they can collect on his triple indemnity life insurance policy.
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Cast
- Armand AssanteNed Ravine
- Sherilyn FennLaura Lincolnberry
- Kate NelliganLana Ravine
- Sean YoungLola Cain
- Christopher McDonaldFrank Kelbo
- James RemarMax Shady
- Tony RandallJudge Skanky
- Clarence ClemonsClarence
- Keith CampbellMurder Investigator
- Michael CumpstyLaura's Husband
Recommendations
- 50
The New York Times
Carl Reiner's hit-or-miss film noir parody, a collection of gags that vary much too wildly in terms of timing and wit. All that hold this comedy together are a playful outlook and a conviction that detective stories are intrinsically funny, especially if the detective is as much of a blockhead as Ned Ravine. - 50
Austin Chronicle
Director Reiner (All of Me, Sibling Rivalry) takes -- ahem -- a stab at parodying those wacky ice-pick thrillers of the Nineties and barely breaks the skin. - 50
Chicago Tribune
What the movie doesn't have, besides too many laughs, is either the pungent style and sociology of true film noir, or the sheer yuppie desperation of the hard-core erotic thriller. Instead of being hard-boiled, it's over easy. - 42
Entertainment Weekly
Too dopey to cut it as a theatrical release, but more knowingly and competently made than most of its straight-to-video analogues, this Carl Reiner-directed pastiche-parody of film noir occupies a lonely corner of video purgatory. - 40
Washington Post
Lacking in both inspiration and ingenuity, it doesn't so much spoof the conventions of the genre as dumb down famous -- and in some cases, forgotten -- scenes from a slew of other movies. - 38
Chicago Sun-Times
Armand Assante, on the other hand, is one of the best movie actors of his generation. But he isn't very funny in Fatal Instinct. - 37
TV Guide Magazine
The cast tries but the laughs simply aren't there, despite the filmmakers' apparent conviction that homages plus penis jokes equals wit. - 30
Los Angeles Times
A more pointed genre parody intent on proving there’s noir business like show business could’ve been ripping fun. But director Carl Reiner is more intent on offering Cliff’s Notes for VCR couch spuds than satire. It’s the kind of endlessly referential, toothless spoof that sticks an elbow in your side every 20 seconds or so: “Now we’re doing the ‘Body of Evidence’ candle wax scene! Recognize the funny-hats montage from ‘Sleeping With the Enemy’? Get it?”
