The Curve (1998)
- written May 1999
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Tim is one of 3 roommates (Chris & Rand) whose whole future depends on college grades. Chris and Tim formulate a plan to kill off Rand and get 4.0's leading them to grad school, per school policy. Rand isn't exactly the world's most romantic guy and instead can be physically and mentally abusive to his Canadian girlfriend, Natalie. On the day she finds out she's pregnant, he goes ballistic. He's so mad he wants to have her deported. So Tim and Chris set up the plan with this news at the party later that night. After getting Rand very drunk and themselves drinking fruit punch, Rand collapses. After some arguments and some pushes, Rand goes off the cliff. Tim and Chris then do their best impressions in the face of police and school questioning, of being distraught. But days later Natalie jumps from that same cliff. And you know, the police never did find Rand's body. Tim is playing his part so well, the police and friends soon believe that Chris actually killed his roommate knowing he'd get a 4.0 And hey, he has been seeing a shrink. His girlfriend Emma hasn't exactly been faithful either. But don't fret, Chris has one more trick up his sleeve and it's a killer.
Overall: I enjoyed this film despite it being a complete copy of other similar films ("Dead Man on Campus" and "Getting In"). But Matthew Lillard is proving himself to be a good actor and that face of his is gonna keep him as spooky and just right for horror films. There are some major double crosses in the film, reminiscent of "Entrapment," but like that film after you realize what the ending is, you question scenes from earlier on. If A & B really were in on it then why pretend to each other they weren't? But it does make for a fairly interesting ending. 2 more notes. How is it the films always say that the roommates get a 4.0 but they never say the girlfriend or boyfriend gets it? Is the roommate really that much closer than a girlfriend? Also, why don't young college age actors play characters of a young age in the films? Here, Matthew is 29, Michael & Randall are 31. They are all at least 8 years removed from college. The closest to a graduating age is Keri Russell and she's 23. According to the plot they went straight from high school to college. So were they held back a decade or what? Comparison: Dead Man on Campus meets Getting In |
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