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There’s a lot of pressure on Adrian Lyne ’s “Deep Water,” a film that was basically dumped onto Hulu after Disney bought Fox and had no tolerance for a movie about horny people. Some corners of the internet have been anticipating this project as a return to “movies for adults,” a genre that has undeniably gone away in the studio production line now that almost every movie has to get a PG-13. And the fact that it’s the first film in two decades from the director of “ Fatal Attraction ” and “9 ½ Weeks” sets a standard for the film that might lead to disappointment. Will the “Make Movies Sexy Again” crowd give some of the storytelling bumps in “Deep Water” a pass or is this going to be further proof that the subgenre is creatively dead? Early reviews have already been divisive, and there’s no denying that some of this feels like it’s been through editing hell, especially the final act. I’m eager to see a reportedly longer version because there’s a lot here that works, including a great Ben Affleck performance and the kind of sexual tension that Americans simply don’t offer in the 2020s.

Based on the 1957 novel by Patricia Highsmith , the genius who also wrote Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley , which should give you some idea of the games being played here, “Deep Water” doesn’t waste time with the “happy days” of the Van Allen union. We meet Vic Van Allen (Affleck) and his wife Melinda ( Ana de Armas ) deep in the misery of a failed partnership. They have stuck together, seemingly for their daughter Trixie ( Grace Jenkins ), but there seems to be little love that remains between the couple. The first extended scene takes place at a party, where Melinda gets very drunk and flirts with a handsome young man she personally invited to the soiree. In a moment alone together, Vic tells the new beau that he killed Melinda’s last lover, who's now missing. Is he kidding? The next day he claims that he is, but the basic machination of the script by Zach Helm (“ Stranger Than Fiction ”) and Sam Levinson (“ Euphoria ”) has been set in motion: Melinda cheats, and it’s possible that Vic kills the guys with whom Melinda cheats.

That’s certainly what Don Wilson ( Tracy Letts ) thinks is happening, and the fact that he drives the plot is a weakness that Helm & Levinson don’t really take enough time selling. Why is this man devoting so much time and capital to his theory that Vic is a murderer? Near the end, he says something about a book, which could be the only reason, but there’s also an interesting beat when Don meets Vic and they get a little heated over how Van Allen made his money—the kind of drone technology that’s used in warfare. Has Vic always seen human life as disposable? There’s a fascinating thematic undercurrent in “Deep Water” about two people who may seem very different but are both users—Melinda uses men for pleasure and to provoke her husband. She says at one point that she does so because of the way they make her feel. These are selfish creatures, two people who give into basic instincts in ways that most moral people repress.

Affleck nails this simmering selfishness perfectly, proving to be a great fit for the world of the writer who gave us Tom Ripley. There are echoes of Affleck's work in “ Gone Girl ” in how he captures Vic’s temperature, the way it rises every time he sees Melinda with a new lover, including ones played by Jacob Elordi and Finn Wittrock . Why doesn’t Vic just give up? The script, especially in its final act, hints at some darker themes that a longer version probably unpacks more but Affleck and De Armas sell this psychosexual dysfunction in a way that other performers would have missed. Lyne knows exactly how to use their physical beauty and sexual chemistry on-screen, reminding viewers how rarely we see this kind of thing between major movie stars. I’d also like to add that I thoroughly enjoy how often Lil Rel Howery keeps showing up lately and being so effective in relatively small parts (he delivers in two SXSW films this year too, “I Love My Dad” and “Spin Me Round”). He’s turning into a notable asset for those looking to fill a skeptical supporting role.

While I suspect the abrupt, choppy ending (with a ridiculous choice for the closing credits) will leave people angry, “Deep Water” had done enough before then to win me over. It’s really a vicious piece of work, a movie made by a filmmaker who is unafraid to see the primal, darker parts that beautiful people hide behind their gorgeous facades. It may not be the comeback that fans of Lyne’s were really hoping for, but it’s a reminder that this kind of movie can still get made today. Even if it may not be tomorrow.

On Hulu today.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Film credits.

Deep Water (2022)

Rated R for sexual content, nudity, language and some violence.

115 minutes

Ben Affleck as Vic Van Allen

Ana de Armas as Melinda Van Allen

Tracy Letts as Don Wilson

Grace Jenkins as Trixie

Dash Mihok as Jonas Fernandez

Rachel Blanchard as Kristin Peterson

Kristen Connolly as Kelly Wilson

Jacob Elordi as Charlie De Lisle

Lil Rel Howery as Grant

Brendan Miller as Joel Dash

Jade Fernandez as Jen Fernandez

Finn Wittrock as Tony Cameron

• Adrian Lyne

Writer (based upon the novel by)

• Patricia Highsmith
• Sam Levinson

Cinematographer

• Eigil Bryld
• Andrew Mondshein
• Tim Squyres
• Marco Beltrami

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‘Deep Water’ Review: Love and Loathing in New Orleans

An unhappy husband raises suspicions when his wife’s lovers begin to disappear.

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By Jeannette Catsoulis

Two decades have passed since Adrian Lyne made “Unfaithful,” maybe his best film, though not his best known. (That would be his 1987 sizzler, “Fatal Attraction.” ) A slickly accomplished purveyor of the erotic thriller, Lyne doesn’t make love stories so much as lust stories — specifically, the way an incorrigible sexual appetite can rip a life apart.

On paper, then, he seems the perfect choice to direct “Deep Water,” an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s 1957 novel about a dangerously sick suburban marriage. Vic (Ben Affleck) is retired, enjoying his tech-derived fortune by mountain biking and raising snails. (Glistening gastropod close-ups suggest this hobby has some ominous narrative purpose; let me know if you find one.) Vic’s gorgeous wife, Melinda (Ana de Armas) — rarely seen without a glass in one hand and a lover in the other — favors little black dresses that shrug off as easily as her sobriety. Vic might be tortured by her flagrant infidelities, but how can you stay mad at a woman who gets topless just to wash the dishes?

Filmed in New Orleans and soaked in boozy parties where Melinda’s public humiliations of her husband earn the pity of Vic’s friends, “Deep Water” ( a French version was released in 1981) is a ridiculous murder mystery that could have worked much better as a study of sexual masochism. (The marriage has no heat, yet there’s sly relish in Melinda’s cruelty and a psychological puzzle in Vic’s pained stoicism.) Alternatively, had the story been set in the 1950s of Highsmith’s novel, when divorce was more stigmatized and alcohol the favored alternative, Vic’s forbearance — not to mention all those parties — might have made more sense.

As it is, Affleck is left with little to play but a sorry, perpetually glum cuckold. When the movie opens, a previous lover of Melinda’s has mysteriously disappeared. “I killed him,” Vic tells the dimwitted replacement (Brendan C. Miller), and we wonder if he’s capable of joking. And as Melinda’s flings — including a cheesy pianist who woos her by playing “The Lady Is a Tramp” — continue to vanish, a local writer (Tracy Letts) grows suspicious. Even Vic’s 6-year-old daughter (a delightful Grace Jenkins) looks at him askance.

None of this is ever less than preposterous. Though heaven knows I’m grateful for any grown-up movie these days, “Deep Water” is in many ways a baffling return for Lyne, whose advertiser’s eye for the allure of an image is repeatedly undercut by Zach Helm and Sam Levinson’s messy, often mystifying screenplay. Eigil Bryld’s caressing camera is fully up to any task his director sets him, but the movie appears chopped into misaligned chunks and dangling loose ends, its scenes spat out as randomly as bingo balls.

Originally intended for theatrical release, “Deep Water” has landed on Hulu , possibly because of nervousness over its themes. Yet there’s surprisingly little sex, and what there is has none of the vividness and tactility Lyne is known for. Like Vic’s snails, who must be starved before they can be consumed, “Deep Water” feels like a movie that’s had everything of interest well and truly sucked out.

Deep Water Rated R for bored fellatio and passionate murders. Running time: 1 hour 55 minutes. Watch on Hulu.

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Deep Water: release date, reviews, trailer, and everything we know about the Ben Affleck, Ana de Armas thriller

Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas star in the erotic thriller Deep Water, debuting on streaming March 2022.

The thriller genre is getting a new entry in 2022 with the Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas movie Deep Water . Adapted from a Patricia Highsmith novel and from a director who made his calling card with these kinds of sexy thrillers, the ingredients for Deep Water are certainly intriguing.

Here is everything that we know about Deep Water .

Deep Water release date

Deep Water has been in development for many years and has had an adventure getting onto the big screen. There were plans to have the movie ready as early as 2020, but delays ultimately positioned it for a Jan. 14, 2022, in theaters. However, it was announced in December 2021 that Deep Water would premiere exclusively on streaming services — Hulu in the US and Prime Video abroad — after it had been pulled from the theatrical release calendar .

That was the how, but we now know the when as well, as Deep Water has been set to make its streaming premiere in both the US and UK on March 18.

Deep Water Trailer

The official trailer for Deep Water is here, featuring some razor sharp tension between Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas' married couple. As the trailer says, "the love story is never the whole story." Watch the Deep Water trailer directly below:

There was also a previous Deep Water teaser trailer that previews the dynamic of Affleck and de Armas in the movie.

Deep Water reviews

The reviews for Deep Water have started to come in, but critics aren't getting too hot and steamy for the Affleck/de Armas erotic thriller. As of March 18, Deep Water is has a 39% "rotten" score on Rotten Tomatoes, while it is faring a bit better on Metacritic, earning a 51, which classifies it as "mixed."

Some snippets from reviews:

"After a dangerous, ever personal, first half, Deep Water becomes crude in all the wrong ways." — Chuck Bowen, Slant (50/100)

"In 2022 it's a true gift seeing a film so unafraid of being as lurid, provocative and unabashedly horny as Deep Water ." — Mitchell Beaupre, The Film Stage (91/100)

"Despite his erotic thriller credentials, Lynne makes a tepid return to the director's chair with a rather basic adaptation of an intriguing marital character study that Affleck struggles to enlive." — Hanna Flint, Empire (40/100)

Deep Water plot

Deep Water is a Patricia Highsmith novel that was originally published in 1957 as a psychological thriller, the story follows Vic and Melinda Van Allen. Here is the official synopsis for the movie:

"Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas star as Vic and Melinda Van Allen, an affluent New Orleans couple whose marriage is crumbling under the weight of resentment, jealousy, and mistrust. As their mutual provocations and mind games escalate, things quickly turn into a deadly game of cat and mouse as Melinda’s extramarital dalliances start going missing."

Highsmith’s work has been memorably used for movies before. She is the author behind Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train , The Price of Salt (adapted into 2015’s Carol ), The Two Faces of January and The Talented Mr. Ripley .

Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas in Deep Water

Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas are set to star in Deep Water as Vic and Melinda Van Allen. It’s a fun bit of casting because Affleck and de Armas began dating around the time they were filming the movie. The pair have split, but it will still be intriguing to see how their chemistry together is on screen.

Of course, aside from their personal relationship, Affleck and de Armas have been doing great work in recent years. Affleck has been seeing his acting career find new heights with acclaimed performances in 2020’s The Way Back and 2021’s The Last Duel and The Tender Bar . For de Armas, she has broken out in a big way thanks to blockbuster films like Knives Out and No Time to Die .

Deep Water cast

While Affleck and de Armas will serve as the central couple, the rest of Deep Water ’s cast is a strong group of actors, including the likes of Tracy Lettes, Lil Rey Howry, Rachel Blanchard, Finn Wittrock, Euphoria 's Jacob Elordi and more.

Here is the main cast list:

• Ben Affleck - Vic Van Allen
• Ana de Armas - Melinda Van Allen 
• Tracy Letts - Lionel 
• Rachel Blanchard - Maggie 
• Lil Rel Howery - Nash 
• Finn Wittrock - Dom 
• Jacob Elordi - Terry 
• Dash Mihok - Arthur 
• Kristen Connelly - Jackie 
• Jade Fernandez - Evelyn Cowan 

Deep Water director

Deep Water is probably hoping to be the kind of sexy, psychological thrillers that were big hits in the late 20th century and early 2000s. They have the perfect director to try and reach that goal — Adrian Lyne.

Lyne is an Oscar-nominated director whose credits include Flashdance , 9 ½ weeks , Fatal Attraction (for which he received his Oscar nomination for Best Director), Indecent Proposal and Unfaithful .

Deep Water marks a comeback for Lyne, as the movie will be his first since 2002’s Unfaithful .

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Michael Balderston is a DC-based entertainment and assistant managing editor for What to Watch, who has previously written about the TV and movies with TV Technology, Awards Circuit and regional publications. Spending most of his time watching new movies at the theater or classics on TCM, some of Michael's favorite movies include Casablanca , Moulin Rouge! , Silence of the Lambs , Children of Men , One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Star Wars . On the TV side he enjoys Only Murders in the Building, Yellowstone, The Boys, Game of Thrones and is always up for a Seinfeld rerun. Follow on Letterboxd .

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Why Did Deep Water End like That?

By Chris Murphy

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A lot of fuss has been made over Adrian Lyne ’s film adaptation of Deep Water , based on the novel by The Talented Mr. Ripley scribe Patricia Highsmith. (After a score of Covid-related delays, the movie finally debuted on Hulu today.) For one, Deep Water stars early-pandemic “it” couple Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas , who met during filming, fell in love, and briefly took over the internet with their matching jewelry and penchant for cardboard cut outs . They’ve since broken up , to the chagrin of paparazzi everywhere. Their movie is also billed as an “erotic psychological thriller,” promising to both titillate and shock audiences in the same vein as Lyne films like Fatal Attraction and 9 ½ Weeks.  

While Deep Water doesn't quite reach those heights—it currently holds a 42% on Rotten Tomatoes —the ending, at least, will certainly leave you scratching your head, even if you're familiar with Highsmith's novel. Or maybe especially if you’ve read the book. (If you couldn't already tell, spoilers for both the book and the movie abound from this point on, so proceed with caution.)

Highsmith's 1957 novel centers around the miserably married couple Vic and Melinda, played by Affleck and Armas respectively in the film. Melinda engages in extra-marital affairs from time to time; Vic murders some of her lovers, undetected by the police but drawing suspicion from both Melinda and their neighbor, Don. Towards the end of the novel, Vic murders Melinda's latest lover, Tony, by throwing him off a cliff and hiding the body in a shallow river, weighing it down with rocks. Then Vic strangles Melinda in a fit of rage and is arrested shortly after when Don shows up with the police.

While Lyne's film is quite similar to Highsmith's novel—down to keeping the somewhat antiquated names “Vic” and "Melinda" for its central couple— Deep Water quite literally veers into a completely different direction in its third act. Yes, de Armas still plays a bored spouse who gets to have sex with whomever she pleases, including but not limited to actors Jacob Elordi (Charley) and Finn Wittrock (Tony). Affleck, meanwhile, serves us a microwaved version of his seemingly-nice-but-maybe-a-murderer-actually Gone Girl husband. But strangely, the climactic moment of the film has little to do with the actual couple at hand.

Instead of providing any meaningful resolution or climax for Vic and Melinda's broken relationship, the movie inexplicably decides to end with… wait for it… a high speed bike vs. car chase between Vic and Don, played by Tracy Letts. It ends when Don drives off a cliff, plunging into a ravine to his death. While this is happening, Melinda realizes that Vic has murdered Tony and is packing a bag, presumably planning to leave him. Her efforts are thwarted when their six year old daughter, Trixie, takes Melinda's suitcase and throws it in their gorgeous pool. (Melinda and Vic are rich, by the way, because Affleck's character invented the “computer chip” that's used in drones—which makes no practical sense but suggests that he is a morally dubious person at best.) 

The film ends with Vic biking home to find Melinda waiting for him on the steps after Don's death. The scene is very similar, but not exactly the same, as the one which opens the film, in which Vic bikes home and takes off his pants on the porch before entering the house (remember, it's an erotic thriller). At the end of the movie, Vic keeps his pants on while Melinda says, “I saw Tony,” then proceeds to burn Tony's wallet and identification. That's it. Erotic thriller over. 

Obviously there are “reasons" for why the Deep Water screenplay, written by Zach Helm and Euphoria auteur Sam Levinson , went in a different direction from its source material. Certainly, we don’t need more violence against women on screen, and when you've got the Tony-winning Letts attached to your project, you obviously want to use him as much as possible. Still, a question remains: after spending nearly 120 minutes entwined in the psychosexual pas de deux of Melinda and Vic, why does the film's climax rest on killing off Saorsie Ronan 's nice dad from Lady Bird ? Who believed that the most satisfying conclusion to an erotic thriller would be to kill off a major supporting character who doesn't show up until about half an hour into the film?

Melinda and Vic, one could argue, get something resembling closure. Melinda effectively chooses to stay with her vengeful husband, telling him she saw Tony even though she knows he's dead. There's a vague, Phantom Thread -esque "that's just what works for me and my family” element to Melinda's decision, which she makes full well knowing that he's murdered at least one of her lovers. But that possibility is left more or less completely unexplored by the film, in favor of [checks notes] a PSA about why it’s bad to text and drive. While Highsmith's ending is more brutal, at least it thoroughly resolves the tension between the central couple, albeit in an awful way. 

To be fair to the filmmakers, they couldn’t have predicted that Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas would go on to date and flame out spectacularly in a year's time—and that Affleck would then usher in a societal obsession with the early aughts by dating his former flame Jennifer Lopez once more.  How were they to know that many of us would be tuning into Deep Water to catch a glimpse of the steamy chemistry between our favorite pandemic couple that no longer is ( RIP BenAna ), and maybe weren't as interested in seeing Ben Affleck bike through a forest while de Armas sort of sadly packs a suitcase?

When considering Deep Water 's ending, and the film as a whole, it's hard not to wonder what specifically went wrong here. In rare moments, Deep Water felt like a modern, psychosexual take on Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, with its unending focus on a couple that clearly hates each other. But ultimately, the closest thing we get to George and Martha is the fact that Tracy Letts won a Tony for playing George in 2013. 

By David Canfield

By Britt Hennemuth

Maybe the fault lies in the screenplay. Maybe the all-powerful Lopez, Ben Affleck's old-new girlfriend, somehow got her hands on a rough cut of the film, didn't like what she saw, and made certain demands. Or maybe—and this seems to be the most likely answer—Disney isn't the company you want acquiring and distributing your erotic thriller. 

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Deep Water review: Ana de Armas and Ben Affleck’s erotic thriller is stubbornly and knowingly unsexy

Adrian lyne’s comeback plays as if the simmering passions of his ‘fatal attraction’ and ‘unfaithful’ have been left out in the hot sun to curdle, article bookmarked.

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Dir: Adrian Lyne. Starring: Ben Affleck, Ana de Armas, Tracy Letts, Lil Rel Howery, Jacob Elordi, Dash Mihok, Finn Wittrock. 15, 115 minutes.

Celebrity couples possess a certain knack for portraying marriages in decline. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in Eyes Wide Shut . Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in By the Sea . Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? . The more rich and beautiful the pair, the more rotten the love they can portray on screen. I couldn’t possibly speculate on why: I’m a film critic, after all, not a psychotherapist. But whatever catharsis is to be found in the ritualistic enactment of one’s worst impulses, it’s in the very foundations of Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas ’s performances in the erotic (or not so erotic) thriller Deep Water .

Their off-screen relationship, kindled during production and snuffed out after one of the film’s many Covid-related delays, now survives entirely in subtext. It’s the coiled-up tension that already vibrated through the passages of Deep Water ’s source material, Patricia Highsmith’s compelling (and, again, not so erotic) 1957 novel of the same name – a story, primarily, about control, where an adulterous wife (Armas’s Melinda) is faced with the creeping possibility that her husband (Affleck’s Vic) is behind her last lover’s disappearance.

Affleck and Armas have delivered us a very ugly marriage indeed. Armas is the stand-out of the pair – her eyes flecked with provocation, a spider’s trap laid out with the sweetest of venom. Affleck, at times, is so weary that he acts a little zombified. But it works. What’s frightening about Vic is always how casually he talks, no matter how dark the subject or if his fingers are wrapped around a power drill. When Melinda and Vic act out love, it’s hollow and mechanical, with phrases like “I think you look beautiful in the dress you have on” stumbling out like they’re in a foreign tongue. When they insult each other, they take little nips at each other’s pride. She yells at him while she’s brushing her teeth, and the little flecks of toothpaste splatter onto his shirt like ejaculate. When in a mood, Vic retreats to his shed to fuss over his large collection of snails. He lets the mating creatures intertwine on his hand, leaving his skin slick with slime.

None of this sounds particularly erotic. Nor should it – despite how it’s been sold, Deep Water is stubbornly and knowingly unsexy, though it may seem against the very nature of its director, Adrian Lyne . This is his first film since 2002’s Unfaithful , which followed his previous erotic thrillers Indecent Proposal (1993) and Fatal Attraction (1987). It’s been somewhat unwisely framed, then, as the return of the genre, here to save us all from the sexless drought of modern Hollywood.

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But Lyne never anointed himself as the leader of any crusade, however noble. And his tone here is considered, if unexpected – as if the simmering passions of Fatal Attraction and Unfaithful had been left out in the hot sun to curdle. The sex scenes, a messy concoction of fumbled handjobs and feeble ass-grabbing, should be this harried because they are performed entirely without love.

Deep Water ’s script, overseen by Zach Helm and Euphoria ’s Sam Levinson, revises Highsmith’s final act. Male rage – the kind that flared up at the end of Fatal Attraction – is tampered down and replaced by a more even-handed power balance. It suits Lyne’s aims, allowing Deep Water to become a chess game with pawns made out of Melinda’s lovers, all eager young men with jawlines for days (played by Brendan C Miller, Jacob Elordi and Finn Wittrock). Melinda wants Vic to cheat. The competition enlivens her. Vic seems to view marriage as something akin to joint prison time. He thinks a little too much about his snails, too. If that sounds silly – well, yes, Deep Water never takes itself all that seriously.

Lyne can laugh at these people because he holds little respect for them, and there’s a general sense of revulsion directed here towards the rich and reckless. His camera navigates queasily through the film like he’s capturing a natural disaster in action. Deep Water is as erotic a thriller as you can get in a place so barren of love.

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Deep Water review: An un-erotic non-thriller that's still kinda watchable

Ana de Armas and Ben Affleck torment each other in a tale of fatal attractions, indecent proposals, and aggressive biking.

Can a snail be sexy? How about a bridge? These and other questions may tickle your fancy when you watch Deep Water , a ridiculous but involving drama streaming on Hulu this Friday. Patricia Highsmith's original novel about a murderous marital crisis came out in 1957. That's 65 years of evolving relationship dynamics to grapple with. And the film marks the first directorial effort in two decades from Adrian Lyne, famous for making the kind of glossy erotic thrillers nobody even tries anymore. Leads Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas coupled and decoupled during the years of release delay, so Deep Water arrives a triple throwback: an old story in a dead genre starring exes. It's also a goof, with an odd charm wildly at odds with the leaden melodrama. This train wreck gawks at itself.

Affleck and de Armas play the unhappily married Van Allens. Vic got rich designing some kind of drone warfare computer chip, and now his job is something something web apps and something something publishing. Mostly, he bikes around and takes care of their precocious daughter, Trixie (Grace Jenkins). Melinda stays busy getting busy. Her affairs with various hot young dudes are not subtle. At a party full of close friends, she makes out with handsome doofus Joel (Brendan C. Miller), who compliments Vic for being such a chill cuckold. Vic calmly mentions another "friend" of Melinda's who recently disappeared — and strongly implies that he did the disappearing.

Is Vic killing Melinda's boyfriends? Everyone assumes his confession is a joke. Melinda thinks he's too boring for that kind of excitement. Unfortunately, I agree. Deep Water takes Vic's perspective even as it keeps his actions mysterious, and Affleck never locates the jealous pulse to power all the spiraling tension. Melinda's accelerating promiscuity should torment him, but it mainly exists as gossip for their social circle. That includes local writer Don Wilson ( Tracy Letts ), who takes an interest in the murder rumors. Vic's best friends, played by Lil Rel Howery and Dash Mihok, are mostly there to stare wide-eyed at Melinda's dalliances and offer grim husbandly condolences.

Lil Rel Howery! Now we're getting to the good stuff. Affleck's morose blankness makes it hard to understand why anyone would be pals with Vic, and Howery's role could just be the Black Best Friend cliché. But his low-key comic energy pulls the torpid romantic plot in a more self-aware direction. He seems like a regular person who just wandered into a softcore noir; his double takes are quadruple. You get a similar vibe from the close attention paid to young Trixie, who keeps asking their Alexa to play "Old MacDonald" yet seems to have complete who-cares awareness of all the bad things her parents are up to.

Meanwhile, de Armas does all the acting Affleck doesn't. It's a sing-on-the-piano, third-base-on-the-dance-floor kind of performance. Melinda is said to be foreign (de Armas is Cuban), which a couple of characters hilariously pinpoint as an explanation for her flagrant actions. "America's so suffocating!" she declares, after Vic begs her not to drunkenly disrobe in front of their horrified babysitter. She openly taunts her husband with her affairs; at one point, she banishes him to story time with Trixie, so she can screw her latest boy toy downstairs. "If you were married to anyone else," she tells him later, "You'd be so f---ing bored you'd kill yourself."

Despite her brassy assurance, Deep Water obeys the most normative rules its genre, with de Armas showing off more skin than any of her paramours. Still, it lacks the sizzle of Lyne's earlier films. Do we laugh more at sex scenes now? Or are these sex scenes just funny? (Prepare yourself for the biting.) The silliness may also come from adapting Highsmith's tale into modern times. Melinda is supposed to feel trapped by Vic, but that doesn't read anymore. She mainly comes off as a charming sex-positive polygamist, until the film worrisomely ponders if all she really wants is attention. So there's a frustrating lack of specificity in the central relationship, which sucks the air out of any one-on-one scene between the couple. We're miles from Unfaithful , where Diane Lane and Richard Gere gave stunner performances while embodying equivalent strains of carnal desperation and adulterous suspicion.

That 2002 film is Lyne's masterwork, embedding all his gaudy stimulations in rueful yearning. By comparison, Deep Water stays shallow. There's plenty to gape at if you want a weekend rubberneck, and some eccentric flourishes of genuine personality. Vic has pet snails — and gang, this man really cares about his snails. All of Melinda's boyfriends are cast, accidentally or on purpose, to look exactly half Affleck's age and size. The New Orleans setting means that every house has an aspirational deck, and that a boozy-stoned pool party gets broken up by a tropical shower. The final act requires everyone to suddenly become 63% stupider, though there are sublime pleasures in the late plot turns. (Without spoiling anything, I'll just say that someone brings a cute puppy to a murder.) Deep Water isn't really thrilling or erotic, but it accomplishes a kind of diagonal camp sincerity, plummeting its glamorous characters into ever-tawdrier situations. I wouldn't marry it, but I wouldn't kill it. Remind me, what's the third option? C+

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‘Deep Water’ Review: Ben Affleck Goes From Cuckold to Killer in Adrian Lyne’s Slick, Hard-to-Swallow Thriller

After a 20-year hiatus from the big screen, the 'Unfaithful' helmer returns with this steamy, if shallow Patricia Highsmith adaptation.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

Chief Film Critic

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There’s something missing from Adrian Lyne ’s “ Deep Water ,” and it’s not just the body of Martin McRae, the last unfortunate rival to get a little too friendly with Vic Van Allen’s wife. Vic ( Ben Affleck ) and Melinda ( Ana de Armas ) have an open marriage, but her … distractions have a habit of disappearing, and so do pretty much all ties to recognizable human behavior in the “Fatal Attraction” director’s unexpectedly coolheaded adaptation of the 1957 Patricia Highsmith novel for Hulu. This erotic thriller is still sexy and plenty entertaining, mind you, but it’s just not very useful insofar as what it says about real relationships.

Late last century, Lyne had a long, successful run of portraying complex sexual dynamics through grown-up eyes, but it’s been 20 years since “Unfaithful” — he spent two decades fighting to get this film off the ground — and the now-octogenarian helmer’s influence on subsequent sizzlers has undermined his own capacity to shock. Films like “Gone Girl” and “Fifty Shades of Grey” are nothing if not knockoffs of the classic Lyne aesthetic (which treats sex more seriously than its softcore competition), pushing the envelope farther than the director is willing to go with this particular project.

In terms of material, Lyne’s sensibility would seem an ideal fit with Highsmith’s, given their shared preoccupation with jealousy and illicit desire. But it turns out the filmmaker lacks the “Talented Mr. Ripley” writer’s grounded sense of psychology, putting his emphasis instead on suspense — well, that and snails, which occupy a surprising amount of the movie’s attention (but more on that in a minute). Elegant as ever — to a fault — plot-centric Lyne seems more concerned with how things happen than why they do.

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Much of this could have been solved rather simply, by including a conversation — or better yet, an argument — between Vic and Melinda in which the couple hash out the rules of their arrangement. They have what’s sometimes referred to as an “understanding.” The problem is, we don’t understand it. As Vic, Ben Affleck looks grizzled and angry for most of the film, glowering at Melinda from across the room at dinner parties as she brazenly flirts with other men. Most husbands would probably have a similar reaction. But most husbands don’t give their wives permission to consort with whomever they please, so long as they agree not to tear the family apart — which happens to be the deal in “Deep Water.”

Vic retired early, comfortably rich, and now serves as a house husband, taking care of their daughter (Grace Jenkins) while Melinda amuses herself on the town. Their evenings are a succession of parties at friends’ houses, at which she inevitably drinks too much and crosses the line. But where is the line? And what is Vic thinking when he catches Melinda making out with handsome idiot Joel (Brendan C. Miller) at one of these soirées?

He stares down from an upper window, catching her eye, and in this exchange, we are supposed to conclude … what? That he’s OK with it? That seeing her with another man turns him on? That Melinda is daring him to react? Maybe even all of the above. Affleck’s expression is unnervingly inscrutable, which could be the right answer in a certain context: People tend to be relatively poker-faced in real life. We could certainly debate whether it’s good acting or bad to telegraph a character’s internal reactions, and yet, in this context, audiences need some kind of clue to know how to read their relationship, and Affleck withholds that.

An early scene, which shows Vic and Melinda retiring to separate corners of the house, suggests the emotional distance that exists between the couple. After the party, Melinda denies him sex and sends him out of the room. But later, after Vic surprises her by dancing with another woman, it sparks a passionate lovemaking session. There’s an enticing puzzle aspect in trying to untangle the codes of their relationship. The trouble is, they’re not consistent, and what he says — to her, or to his friends (Dash Mihok and Lil Rel Howery, always good for a laugh), isn’t necessarily reflective of what he feels. Vic makes lofty claims of accepting her unconditionally — which sets up the movie’s unconvincing ending, different from the book’s (or that of “Eaux profondes,” the French adaptation from 1981, which starred Jean-Louis Trintignant and Isabelle Huppert). But unlike most functional open relationships, he can’t subsume his envy for the sake of her happiness.

Vic goes from cuckold to killer over the course of the film, and it’s not at all clear what flips the switch. In a private moment with Joel, Vic makes what he later describes as a joke, claiming to be responsible for Martin McRae’s disappearance. It’s his way of threatening this impertinent stud, of letting him know he’s not as “cool” with his wife’s playthings as she must claim, and it works. Joel backs off. But the story gets around, and new-to-town neighbor Don Wilson (Tracy Letts) even takes him at his word, going so far as to hire a private eye after another of Melinda’s “friends” turns up dead.

Lyne tantalizes us with the ambiguity of it all for a time, aligning the film’s POV with that of Vic, who retreats to the greenhouse out back to play with his snails whenever his feelings are hurt. Why snails? These hermaphroditic creatures must surely represent some kind of metaphor, too obscure to be easily interpreted. They also serve a more direct, sensual role: In “Gone Girl,” Affleck caught audiences off guard with a glimpse of frontal nudity in the shower. Here, the biggest shock is a scene in which he lets a few of these beloved gastropods slither up his arms.

Vic’s actions get increasingly unbelievable as the movie goes on, but Lyne’s a talented enough director to keep us invested, even in the lunatic last third. If anything, he doesn’t push things far enough. In other words, he’s still great at what he does; he just doesn’t do enough of it.

Reviewed online, March 11, 2022. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: TK MIN.

• Production: (U.S.-Australia) A Hulu release, presented in association with Regency Enterprises, Entertainment One of a New Regency, Keep Your Head, Entertainment 360, Film Rights production. Producers: Arnon Milchan, Guymon Casady, Benjamin Forkner, Anthony Katagas. Executive producers: Yariv Milchan, Michael Schaefer, Nathalie Lehmann, Garrett Basch, Philipp Keel, Zev Foreman.
• Crew: Director: Adrian Lyne. Screenplay: Zach Helm, Sam Levinson, based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith. Camera: Eigil Bryld. Editors: Andrew Mondshein, Tim Squyres. Music: Marco Beltrami.
• With: Ben Affleck, Ana de Armas, Tracy Letts, Lil Rel Howery, Dash Mihok, Finn Wittrock, Kristen Connolly, Jacob Elordi, Rachel Blanchard, Michael Braun, Jade Fernandez, Grace Jenkins, Brendan C. Miller, Devyn Tyler, Jeff Pope.

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I was not prepared for caesar's scene in kingdom of the planet of the apes, mad max director's mel gibson return response is a huge relief after 97% rotten tomatoes classic.

Fatal Attraction director Adrian Lyne has returned with Deep Water , but a wave of bad reviews suggests he might not have returned to his former glory. After a 20-year hiatus, filled with the director attempting to get projects off the ground, Lyne’s film is releasing on March 18th. A lusty, dark thriller in line with his previous cult classics,  Deep Water attempts to do a lot, but critics are divided on whether or not it is successful.

With the director’s previous films receiving mixed reviews but holding much cultural relevance, critics were not sure what to expect from the movie. The  much-parodied  Fatal Attraction   (76% on Rotten Tomatoes),   and   Jacob's Ladder   (73%)   suggested a gut-wrenching, true-to-life portrayal of dark sexuality. Looking at reviews, however, it seems Deep Water is more in line with Lyne’s Unfaithful (50%).

Related: Gone Girl 2 Updates: Why The Sequel Could Happen

At the time of writing, Deep Water has a 43% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 89 reviews, of which 51 are considered “rotten.” While some reviewers commend the film on its risks and themes, most chastise it for its lack of relatability and narrative sense, and all seem to agree that the film provides an interesting, but inconsistent psychological puzzle. There are some rare, positive  Deep Water reviews, however:

 "This erotic thriller is still sexy and plenty entertaining, mind you, but it’s just not very useful insofar as what it says about real relationships."

Punch Drunk Critics :

"What deliciously evil fun Deep Water turns out to be!"

It seems most reviewers appreciated the film's take on the relationship, enjoying the deductions the film prompts the viewer to make on the nature of the two leads’ interactions but found it unrealistic. Despite claims of  Ben Affleck being unprofessional , he delivers a dark, if one-note performance, brooding over Ana de Armas’ Melinda, his wife. This interaction, however, left many critics unsure of how to feel, and while some enjoyed Affleck’s stone-faced performance, it did not help the sense of being unsure. Here’s what the more negative reviews had to say.

Screen Rant :

"Sending Deep Water to Hulu could be interpreted as Disney's move to bury the film, and it's easy to see why they didn't give it much of a push. There were enough pieces here to create something interesting, but it never fully came together."

"What that medley of talent manages to conjure up is a bewildering tale of connubial torture between two people who loathe one another for largely mysterious reasons."

The New York Times :

"Though heaven knows I’m grateful for any grown-up movie these days, “Deep Water” is in many ways a baffling return for Lyne, whose advertiser’s eye for the allure of an image is repeatedly undercut by Zach Helm and Sam Levinson’s messy, often mystifying screenplay."

"Not-insignificant chunks of narrative seem to have gone missing, especially as the story barrels toward its startlingly abrupt finish."

While the tale has elements of a steamy, dark thriller, they ultimately fail to come together successfully, a problem intensified through the movie’s problematic script and editing. It also needs to fix its pacing problems. Looking past the technical problems, however, the relationship between the two leads is a confusing and inconsistent one, making the act of unraveling this relationship a complicated and frustrating process. Sadly, Deep Water does not repeat  No Time to Die 's Ana de Armas success  of giving her a well-written character. All this without mentioning Affleck's unmoving grimace and how that further muddies the emotional landscape.

That all means this might not be the big smash that Adrian Lyne was hoping to achieve. While it might appeal to those looking for another pulpy thriller about the corruption of lust, its problems prevent it from reaching the heights of his previous work. Partnered with a confusing central conflict, it is easy to see why Deep Water has received such negative reviews.

Next:  Why Ana de Armas's Next Big Movie Is Already Controversial

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The three leads do their best. It's not their fault the script is littered with the kinds of clunkers that bring you out of the lakes and back to the channel changer.

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The Most Anticipated Movies of 2025

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TAGGED AS: movies

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(Photo by Eli Adé/©Marvel)

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DC Studios CEO James Gunn is directing, writing, and producing the latest reboot of Superman , bringing it into the new generation of a connected DC Cinematic Universe. The film will not be an origin story, but will focus on Lois Lane and Clark Kent. To the dismay of many Superman fans, Henry Cavill will not be returning to play the superhero — instead, David Corenswet will take on the role, playing a younger, more optimistic Superman to counter Cavill’s grittier rendition.

The Fantastic Four (2025)

The Fantastic Four are coming back for a third time, 20 years after the initial theatrical debut of Marvel’s First Family and 10 years after the ill-fated reboot. This iteration joins the MCU as part of the Multiverse Saga, skipping the team’s origin story and setting up future crossover events, potentially into the next Avengers movie. Not much else is known about the film, except the main cast: Pedro Pascal plays Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby plays Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn plays Johnny Storm, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach plays Ben Grimm, while  WandaVision and  Monarch: Legacy of Monsters director Matt Shakman takes the helm.

Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Movie (2025) Release Date: August 8, 2025 Director: Paul Thomas Anderson Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, Wood Harris, Alana Haim, Chase Infiniti

Directed, written, and produced by Paul Thomas Anderson, this untitled film will be his 10th narrative feature and the first to be released in IMAX. Not much else is known besides its all-star cast. Since Anderson’s breakout feature Boogie Nights , he has collected 11 total Oscar nominations as a producer, writer, and director, but he’s never won, and who knows, perhaps this will be the title that brings home the hardware.

Animal Friends (2025)

We don’t know much about the plot of this film, but we do know that it’s directed by Peter Atencio ( Keanu , The Machine ) and it’s a live-action/animated hybrid starring the likes of Ryan Reynolds, Aubrey Plaza, and Jason Momoa, among others. There are also presumably going to be animated animals involved, but we don’t yet know who will appear as themselves in the film, and who will be voicing animated characters.

The Bride! (2025) Release Date: October 3, 2025 Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal Starring: Christian Bale, Jesse Buckley, Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, Penelope Cruz

A new Frankenstein film is being brought to life, this time through a female lens. In this remake by Maggie Gyllenhaal of 1935’s Bride of Frankenstein , a murdered young woman in 1930s Chicago is reborn again at the hands of Frankenstein (Christian Bale) and Dr. Euphronius. The Bride becomes not only Frankenstein’s romantic companion, but the subject of police scrutiny and the leader of a radical social movement.

(Photo by Leah Gallo/©Disney Enterprises)

TRON: Ares (2025)

What happens when the lines are blurred between the grid and the real world? In this new installment of the iconic sci-fi series, Ares (Jared Leto) plays a highly sophisticated A.I. computer program that crosses over into the human world on a dangerous mission. Though many plot details are still unknown, the setting seems to focus mostly on the real world rather than the grid that fans remember from Tron and Tron: Legacy . Though the cast is mostly comprised of new characters, it has been announced that Jeff Bridges will appear in the film, though we don’t know if he will be portraying Kevin Flynn or Clu.

Mortal Kombat 2 (2025) Release Date: October 24, 2025 Director: Simon McQuoid Starring: Hiroyuki Sanada, Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Karl Urban, Tadanobu Asano, Mehcad Brooks

The 2021 reboot of the video game adaptation Mortal Kombat wasn’t a huge hit with critics, but it earned enough of a following that it has now spawned a sequel. Lewis Tan (Cole Young), Jessica McNamee (Sonya), Mehcad Brooks (Jax), and Shogun co-stars Hiroyuki Sanada (Scorpion) and Tadanobu Asano (Raiden) all return to reprise their roles from the first film, while Karl Urban joins the cast as Johnny Cage.

Blade (2025)

This Blade reboot wraps up the MCU’s 2025 theatrical slate, bringing the Daywalker back — without Wesley Snipes. Mahershala Ali will play the superhero in the new rendition, marking a total revamp (pun unintended) of the franchise. Ali’s voice as Eric Brooks has already made an appearance in the post-credits scene of 2021’s Eternals , hinting a possible connection between the two films.

Wicked: Part Two (2025) Release Date: November 26, 2025 Director: John M. Chu Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Keala Settle

Fans of the classic The Wizard of Oz and the hit Broadway musical spinoff Wicked won’t have to wait long for the conclusion of its film adaptation. Closely following the 2024 theatrical release of Wicked: Part One , Part Two wraps up the story that follows Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) as she navigates her identity as the “Wicked Witch of the West” while facing Glinda (Ariana Grande), the Good Witch of the North. According to producer Marc Platt, splitting the film into two parts allowed for the inclusion of the entire musical soundtrack.

Zootopia 2 (2025) Release Date: November 26, 2025 Director: Byron Howard, Rich Moore Starring: Jason Bateman, Ginnifer Goodwin, Rolando Davila-Beltran

The sequel to Zootopia follows young rabbit and cop Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and con-artist fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) as they navigate a big city and take down Dawn Bellwether. The Disney animation is long-awaited, coming nearly a decade after the original film grossed more than $1 billion at the box office and won the 2016 Oscar for Best Animated Film.

(Photo by ©Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

Avatar 3 (2025)

The third film of the Avatar franchise brings audiences back to Pandora and the Na’vi, this time with new biomes and new clans. The “Ash People” will represent fire and depict Na’vi who are not as kind as those we’ve seen before. New additions to the cast include Michelle Yeoh, playing human scientist Dr. Karina Mogue, and Oona Chaplin, playing the villain Na’vi Varang. Avatar 3 follows on the heels of the box office juggernaut Avatar: The Way of Water , and the first act of the fourth film has also already been shot.

The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants (2025) Release Date: December 19, 2025 Director: Derek Drymon Starring: Tom Kenny, Clancy Brown, Brian Doyle-Murray, Bill Fagerbakke, Rodger Bumpass, Mr. Lawrence, Carolyn Lawrence

SpongeBob SquarePants and friends are coming back to the big screen. The fourth movie centers on SpongeBob’s adventures in the deep sea, facing the ghost of the Flying Dutchman. The original SpongeBob SquarePants TV series has been running since 1999 and is currently in its 14th season.

Dirty Dancing 2 (2025) Release Date: Summer, 2025 Director: Jonathan Levine Starring: Jennifer Grey

After almost 40 years, Dirty Dancing is finally getting a sequel. Although details about the plot, title, and release date are still up in the air, we know Jennifer Grey is returning as Baby Houseman, and Lionsgate is working to include as many original cast members as possible. This film will honor the late Patrick Swayze, not by recasting his character Johnny Castle, but rather by incorporating Johnny into the story.

Thumbnail images by ©Marvel Studios, Geoffrey Short/©Universal Pictures, @jamesgunn

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‘if’ review: ryan reynolds leads a john krasinski-directed family film that’s easier to admire than enjoy.

The 'A Quiet Place' helmer steps away from the horror genre for this live-action/animated movie featuring an all-star voice cast.

By Frank Scheck

Frank Scheck

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In the early scenes of his new fantasy film geared to families, John Krasinski is seen as a 12-year-old girl’s father who’s in the hospital preparing for what seems to be life-threatening heart surgery. To keep up his daughter’s spirits, he delivers elaborate jokes and comedy routines, leading her to complain that he needn’t bother, that she’s not a child anymore. In other words, she thinks he’s trying too hard, which is something you could also say about IF .

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It’s a delicate balancing act that Krasinski nearly but doesn’t quite pull off, resulting in a film plagued by significant tonal shifts and pacing issues. Not to mention a certain air of familiarity, thanks to its resemblance to numerous Pixar films and movies like A Monster Calls .

The story revolves around Bea (Cailey Fleming, The Walking Dead ), who’s temporarily staying with her grandmother ( Fiona Shaw ) in her Brooklyn Heights brownstone apartment while her father (Krasinski) awaits his surgery. Having lost her mother to cancer when she was a little girl, Bea is naturally terrified of another loss, which no doubt leaves her emotionally open to encountering the IFs who start popping up in her orbit — including butterfly-like Blossom ( Phoebe Waller-Bridge ) and lovable furry giant Blue (an endearing Steve Carell ), who’s actually purple but was named by a color-blind child.

The care that Krasinski has put into the film is apparent on every level, beginning with the cute hand-painted Paramount logo seen during the opening credits. The IFs — voiced by a veritable who’s-who of Hollywood stars including Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Sam Rockwell, Blake Lively, George Clooney, Amy Schumer, Jon Stewart, Bradley Cooper, Keegan-Michael Key, Awkwafina, Sebastian Maniscalco, Maya Rudolph, and presumably everyone else in Krasinski’s contacts list — are consistently amusing and imaginative, even if most of them are seen too briefly to make much of an impression. There’s a terrific fantasy sequence (the whole film is a fantasy, but still), in which Bea puts Cal through a series of ordeals that feature visual references to everything from a Tina Turner music video to vintage Hollywood musicals. Clever touches abound, such as the grandmother falling asleep to the film Harvey , the grandfather of imaginary friend movies, on television.  

There’s also real cinematic craftsmanship on display in every aspect, from Janusz Kaminski’s elegant cinematography that gives the proceedings a warm, burnished glow to Michael Giacchino’s elegiac score that accentuates the story’s sadder elements without becoming too treacly. The performances are impeccable, with young Fleming anchoring the proceedings with real emotional depth and Reynolds displaying his trademark comedic chops without overdoing it.

Still, there’s much here to appreciate, not least of which is the admirable attempt to simultaneously provide belly laughs for children and emotional resonance for adults. IF may be guilty of trying too hard, but it’s a refreshing change from so many family movies that barely seem to be trying at all.   

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