Deep Water

There are far more film adaptations of Patricia Highsmith novels than there are Patricia Highsmith novels. So it only figures that not all of them succeed at the level of Strangers on a Train (1950), The American Friend (1977) or The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). Enter Adrian Lyne, known for his enjoyably slick but shallow erotic thrillers of the '80s and '90s. Lyne returns after a 20-year absence from the director's chair to helm this vapid adaptation of Highsmith’s 1957 novel Deep Water. It takes a lot to make something dull from one of the great mystery author's stories, but Lyne, the screenwriters, and the cast sure give it their best shot. Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas embarrass themselves by trying to sell this shlock with such earnestness. The two stars play a married couple who seem on the surface to have an ideal relationship and family. They maintain their carnal spark by playing psycho-sadomasochistic mind games with each other. When their dark diversions begin to involve their friends and neighbors, things turn deadly.

Affleck all but undoes his memorable turn in 2014's Gone Girl, a film that recalled Lyne's 1987 cultural zeitgeist hit Fatal Attraction. In Deep Water, Affleck reveals the hollow interior of a phoned-in performance in which a movie star persona is substituted for a character. While the acting by de Armas (who brought so much credibility and power to 2019's Knives Out) is about as convincing as one of those rubber sex dolls from the previous year's Ascension. All of Highsmith’s stories are sexually charged, but this is the first adaptation of her work that feels like it was produced for Skinemax. Yet there is nothing erotic about this erotic thriller. Despite many sex scenes and lots of gratuitous toplessness, every "titillating moment" in this picture feels like it was designed, choreographed, and performed by A.I.