Pacific Heights annoyed me. It's not so much that it's a bad movie, but it certainly seemed flawed in a way that made me wonder what was left on the cutting room floor. There are several incomplete scenarios and a plot that only works if the facts as presented are believable. I didn't think they were.
The essential premise of Pacific Heights, allegedly based on a true story, is that the way the laws are set up one can rent out an apartment to a psycho and that psycho can then destroy you and your property while claiming one court victory after another. The way this is presented is just simply unbelievable. In the meantime, observing what Keaton will do actually becomes rather anti-climactic and, ultimately, boring.
As for incomplete scenarios, we never really get a sense for who the person with Keaton in the apartment really is, or what ultimately happens to him. We never really learn what Keaton's character gained from the opening sequence. We are shown a minor character's application becoming accidentally ignored and yet it plays no role because the man later doesn't believe that it was an accident anyway and his involvement doesn't really matter ultimately. So what was the point? To imply racism that wasn't apparently there in this case?
The performances salvage this from being awful and it is why I gave it a 6. Michael Keaton does a good job as an amoral person. One gets the sense that behind the blank stare there really is no moral code. Melanie Griffith is her usual soft-spoken self, but it works here. Although, considering how laid-back she is, one marvels that she would have the chutzpah to try and exact revenge. As for Mr. Modine. Well, he does have 2 emotions to convey: self-satisfaction and hysteria. And he gets each accomplished on cue. He struck me as the 1990 version of Ben Affleck. Easy on the eyes and empty between the ears.
Pacific Heights was interesting and realistic in that, in today's market especially, the only way to own a decent home may involve renting out apartments. This is a cautionary tale for nervous landlords.
(mini-spoiler below)
Yuppie priorities also take a beating. In what other movie does a miscarriage become a throwaway subplot to the real tragedy, in this case, the desecration of one's property?
Dry your tears and pass The Wall Street Journal please.
The essential premise of Pacific Heights, allegedly based on a true story, is that the way the laws are set up one can rent out an apartment to a psycho and that psycho can then destroy you and your property while claiming one court victory after another. The way this is presented is just simply unbelievable. In the meantime, observing what Keaton will do actually becomes rather anti-climactic and, ultimately, boring.
As for incomplete scenarios, we never really get a sense for who the person with Keaton in the apartment really is, or what ultimately happens to him. We never really learn what Keaton's character gained from the opening sequence. We are shown a minor character's application becoming accidentally ignored and yet it plays no role because the man later doesn't believe that it was an accident anyway and his involvement doesn't really matter ultimately. So what was the point? To imply racism that wasn't apparently there in this case?
The performances salvage this from being awful and it is why I gave it a 6. Michael Keaton does a good job as an amoral person. One gets the sense that behind the blank stare there really is no moral code. Melanie Griffith is her usual soft-spoken self, but it works here. Although, considering how laid-back she is, one marvels that she would have the chutzpah to try and exact revenge. As for Mr. Modine. Well, he does have 2 emotions to convey: self-satisfaction and hysteria. And he gets each accomplished on cue. He struck me as the 1990 version of Ben Affleck. Easy on the eyes and empty between the ears.
Pacific Heights was interesting and realistic in that, in today's market especially, the only way to own a decent home may involve renting out apartments. This is a cautionary tale for nervous landlords.
(mini-spoiler below)
Yuppie priorities also take a beating. In what other movie does a miscarriage become a throwaway subplot to the real tragedy, in this case, the desecration of one's property?
Dry your tears and pass The Wall Street Journal please.