Synopsis
Michael Chambers has come home to Austin, Texas to his mother who's starting a new life, to his brother whose driven by old jealousies, and to Rachel—the woman he married and then betrayed with his passion for gambling. Now she's together with Tommy, so Michael devises a plan to get Rachel out from under Tommy's control.
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Cast
- Peter GallagherMichael Chambers
- Alison ElliottRachel
- William FichtnerTommy Dundee
- Adam TreseDavid Chambers
- Joe Don BakerClay Hinkle
- Paul DooleyEd Dutton
- Shelley DuvallNurse
- Elisabeth ShueSusan Crenshaw
- Harry GoazGuard Casey
- Richard LinklaterEmber Doorman
Recommendations
- 91
Entertainment Weekly
Soderbergh is able to execute his games without pigeonholing his characters. He has made that rare thing, a modern-day noir with feeling. - 88
Chicago Tribune
Soderbergh pretty much failed in trying to evoke a noir-like nightmare world in the 1919 Prague of "Kafka," his 1991 terror film. But here, he dazzlingly hews out a noir landscape in more unlikely territory: modern-day Austin, Texas. [28 April 1995] - 88
Boston Globe
Soderbergh's sleekly malignant Underneath is a nasty little winner. [28 April 1995, p.81] - 75
ReelViews
The strengths of The Underneath -- its atmosphere and character-centered basis -- are also its weaknesses. - 70
Variety
On its most successful level, the film represents a slashing dramatic essay on the dismaying human tendency not to accept full responsibility for one's actions. - 63
Chicago Sun-Times
By the end of the film the 1949 film noir sources are plainly in view, but earlier, Soderbergh seems more interested in personality quirks than double-crosses, and those are the more interesting scenes. - 60
Los Angeles Times
The Underneath doesn't add up. Made with polish and assurance, capably acted and intricately constructed, its overall impact is less than these parts would indicate. It is good but, against all logic, it is not good enough. - 60
The New York Times
The Underneath is too chaotic to work as a thriller. The suspense kicks in too late and blends uneasily with the rest of the film. But the movie has other sorts of appeal. At heart, it is not a lurid, noir story but a study of characters caught in an emotional disaster.
