SLIVER. Directed by Phillip Noyce; written by Joe Eszterhas; produced by Robert Evans for Paramount. Starring Sharon Stone, William Baldwin and Tom Berenger. Rated R.
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Rear Window, it ain't. Remember Jimmy Stewart with a broken leg, passing his recuperation by spying on his neighbors?
The most interesting part of Sliver is a super-high-tech updating of Stewart's binoculars, a massive video room where you can see into any room of a Manhattan high-rise. (Called a "sliver," as it's built on an extremely narrow lot.)
It also takes its romantic leads light years beyond Stewart and Grace Kelly's discreet, mostly verbal, intimacy. But it's lacking in some other important particulars, like—character development, convincing acting, effective suspense. You know, minor stuff like that.
For all its slick production values, Sliver is too much like an ordinary porno film. You can skimp on character and storyline in those movies, because all anyone really wants to see is the sex.
Carly (Stone) is a recent divorcee who moves into a luxury apartment whose previous tenant, she soon learns, fell to her death from its 20th floor balcony. She has some friendly neighbors, though. Notably Jack (Berenger) a true-crime writer, and Zeke (Baldwin), who has no visible means of support.
Although Jack tries to make time with her, it's Zeke she ends up with. They develop (or, more accurately, fall into) an almost incredibly torrid relationship that is mostly confined to his apartment.
I didn't like Stone's earlier hit, Basic Instinct, very much, but her character in that movie was undeniably exciting and provocative. Here, however, she's traded in the strength and menace of Catherine Trammel for Carly's vulnerability and indecision. And she apparently doesn't have the acting range to be convincing in this very different role.
Berenger, whom I've always liked before, does nothing with Jack, perhaps because the script doesn't give him anything to do. Zeke is the most interesting character in Sliver, and Baldwin also does the best job of acting. But the script eventually fails him, too, since just as we've developed some real sympathy and feeling for him, the movie's abrupt ending throws pie in his face.
Convincing characters aren't a requirement for a good thriller. But a story with no loose ends, or at least with skillfully built suspense, is. Sliver has neither.
June 2, 1993