Year – 1990
In his first post-Batman performance, Michael Keaton does an about face, playing Carter Hayes, a smooth-talking conman who invades the lives and home of a young yuppie couple (Matthew Modine and Melanie Griffith) hoping to rent their way out of the increasing debt from the ill-advised purchase of a fixer-upper in the famed San Francisco neighborhood.
The film teeters between chilling and maddening, as Hayes lays trap upon trap, which the naive couple seem all too eager to fall into. In what starts as simple landlord/tenant relationship, Hayes turns the tables in such a methodical way that he is able to assume the role of victim in the eyes of the police and the attorneys by simply exploiting California’s tough tenant laws. While it is a bit of a stretch to feel completely sympathetic towards the victims, so conniving and intrusive is Hayes plan, it’s hard not to feel a little sorry for them.
Keaton does an especially effective job, playing the bad guy, in a role that is surprisingly restrained. It’s a shame he hasn’t explored this darker avenue a little bit more in his career path, because he simmers with menace. – DG
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