Deep Water

Grade: B+

Ben Affleck and thrillers seem to be a winning combination. I quite enjoyed Gone Girl in 2014, and I liked Deep Water almost as much. The latter is a new Hulu Original movie directed by Adrian Lyne (Flashdance, 9 1/2 weeks, Fatal Attraction, Jacob’s Ladder, Indecent Proposal, Unfaithful) in his first film in 20 years.

After an interesting but unsure first half where things keep almost happening but don’t, events finally start to take place. Affleck garnered significant Oscar buzz earlier this year for The Tender Bar. The movie was a lame cookie-cutter Wonder Years cliche, and his performance was fine but predictable – the kind the Academy voters eat up. He would have fit right in with a nomination, but didn’t get one. He is better here, perhaps in part due to the material. He plays Vic Van Allen. His wife Melinda flirts – and often does more than that – with just about every young man she meets. She doesn’t make much of an effort to conceal this, and Vic – as apparently jealous as he is – is surprisingly blase about all of it. When he catches her in the act, which is often, he never interrupts or makes a scene. I wondered if it was an open marriage. There’s an early scene where he intimidates one of Melinda’s lovers by jokingly telling him he killed another of her lovers.

Melinda’s behavior, we find out, is a cry for attention from her vacant husband. She wants to feel desired and valued by him again. She tells him that she likes the idea of him potentially having killed that guy, because that would mean she’s worth killing for. She is played by Ana de Armas, the star of Knives Out who was unknown to me but held her own in the midst of a large ensemble of familiar faces. Her role here is vastly different and multi-layered, conveying so much. I look forward to seeing more and more from her. Also turning up here is Tracy Letts, one of the greatest character actors working today. His prolific and versatile filmography in the last few years alone includes Little Women, Ford v Ferrari, The Post, Lady Bird, and The Big Short. I have loved, hated, and been mixed about the characters he has played. Lil Rel Howery, from Free Guy and Get Out, does his same old two-step as a fun wisecracking supporting character.

Deep Water is a movie that will inspire viewers who have seen it to get together in discussion groups, or – in the older days – have long conversations about it in the parking lot. All my questions about the logistical plot points were answered, but the film is thick with aspects to unpack – about, say, how the characters feel about everything, and what may be in store for them. Deep Water contains unexpected funny nuggets, like a character’s look of disappointment after a body rolls a long way down a hill but stops just before it falls into the river like they were hoping. And in a strange, macabre way, I saw a sweet love story here. Leave it to director Adrian Lyne to keep us engaged even when the action isn’t always moving forward.

Grade: B+