Bound by Lies (2005)

Just perfect...

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

There are two classes of people who will love this film - Stephen Baldwin fans and Gladys Jimenez fans. All others are bound to be bored.Baldwin plays a cop (Max Garrett) who is dangerously close to being kicked out. He is assigned to watch Laura (Kristy Swanson) and protect her from a crazed killer. You'll know who the killer is in the first five minutes, so there are only two questions to be answered: will the killer get Laura, and will Baldwin get Swanson, who continues to remain nudity-free after 55 films.Well, there is a third question that begs to be answered: why the heck would Garrett want Swanson when he has Gladys Jimenez at home? She has no problems showing us what made her famous in films like Blowback and Secrets of a Chambermaid. She gave that up to become a soap star, but we get another view in this film.We know that Garrett is not gay like we suspect Dr. Doolittle is, but he certainly has his priorities crossed. Get home, jerk, Jimenez is waiting!

This is a great movie - mainly because one of the stars - Gladys Jeminez is a wonderful person and a great friend to me. I have had the pleasure of knowing her the past year and a half and teaching her 5 year old daughter Simone Andrea Kanan piano and voice lessons. She is a fantastic actress as well as being one of the most beautiful people in show business. Steven Baldwin really stands out in this movie - an excellent actor in all of his movies - and his character in this movie stands out among others that he has played. The character played by Kristi Swanson is also played well - good acting - well played - good scrip for this actress. All in all - all three actors blended well together - again - enjoyed my friend Gladys and i encourage all of her fans to watch this movie and enjoy some great acting.

In this strictly paint-by-numbers direct to video thriller, Detective Max Garret (Stephen Baldwin) is assigned to protect Laura Cross (Kristy 'I STILL refuse to get nude' Swanson). Of course even though he's married to a stunning women, he feels chemistry with Laura and vice versa. It's not really that interesting when red herrings are thrown at the viewer AFTER you know who the killer is. This film was tedious to sit through and extremely uninvolving. All the actors were just going through the paces. When i found out one of the writers was responsible for the dreck known as "Naked Lies" it all clicked into place. No wonder the film was so bad. It's like a Skinamax erotic thriller WITHOUT the sex (there IS one scene but it's VERY tame) IE. totally worthless.Eye Candy: Gladys Jimenez gets topless, but her scenes in "Blowback" were better My Grade: D-

I want to start off by saying that I am a HUGE Kristy Swanson fan. I never quite understood why the girl didn't blow up and take Hollywood by storm. So, you will understand why I am a little underwhelmed by the fact that this is the only work that she gets nowadays. A friend of mine works for a video store and, as such, gets to rent prestreet videos. Well, as soon as he saw this movie come in yesterday, he knew he had to bring it over (it's released next Tuesday, April 12th). The movie, although not terrible, is completely below everyone involved. It seems to me that post Playboy, Ms. Swanson seems to feel at home with playing a "Pamela Anderson type" character whose sexuality completely overwhelms her character. The premise goes like this: Stephen Baldwin (one of the worst actors ever; doing a serviceable job here, though) plays (what else) a cop who is assigned to the investigation involving the murder of a homeless man who has been thrown off a building with wire around his neck. Of course, his investigation leads him to the tenants of the building, that include Kristy (doing her best to portray a bondage obsessed top photographer). Well, the normal hijinks ensues and Stephen's married cop character succumbs to Kristy's feminine ways, while at the same time still suspecting her for the murder. Overall, the movie lacked any sort of tension, but the direction, cinematography, and acting were all better than could be expected for such too often explored terrain. Also, anyone expecting any nudity on Kristy's behalf may want to try something else. Although she plays the role with a certain amount of conviction, it is clear that it is not that kind of conviction (which I was pleased to find). In summation, only rent this if you are in the mood for a mediocre late night film and Wild Things (or any of its sequels) are all checked out.