Fear (1998, DVD)

When sweet & loving Nicole Walker (Reese Witherspoon) loses her mother, she goes to live with her father, stepmother & stepbrother in a remote house on a lake. An exclusive area, surrounded by lush forest, this is a gated community. Daddy (William Petersen) knows little about his daughter, now 16 years old, whom he has spent little time with in the past 10 years.

Daddy is also an architect that has built an impenetrable fortress for his new family.

As most 16 year olds will do when meeting the other woman in her fathers life, she rebels against Laura (Amy Brenneman) and the restrictions her new family puts on her. Underneath all that angst is really a sweet girl, kind of shy, a little afraid of the newness. She has found a best friend in the guise of Margo (Alyssa Milano) and a nerdy sort, Gary ( Todd Caldecott ). Margo isn t really a bad girl, just a little wild and frisky.

Then she meets David (Mark Wahlberg), an older boy. Just a little bit bad, a little bit nasty. Just what a shy, young, virginal thing like Nicole needs. Hardly.

David makes a great first impression. He is attentive, loving, treats the parents and stepbrother like royalty. He gets Nicole flowers, calls her on the phone, brings her home on time. In fact, the perfect boyfriend .. except

Daddy doesn t care for him.

What results is every parents nightmare, a bad boy gone even worse, chasing your sweet virginal daughter and turning her against you.

In the end you find no fortress is impenetrable, even the heart.

Suspenseful? You bet. There are plenty of times where you edge out on the seat but for the most part the movie moves slowly until the climatic ending. Predictable? You bet, but you don t really care. You will, however, learn a new respect for roller coasters grin.

There is great music throughout the movie: Wild Horses by The Sundays; Animal by Prick; Comedown & MachineHead by Bush; Something s Always Wrong by Toad The Wet Sprocket; Green Mind by Dink; The Illist by Marky Mark and Irie Vibe by One Love.

Fear won Best Villian (Mark Wahlberg) and Best Movie Song (Bush for MachineHead) from MTV. It was directed by James Foley and written by Christopher Crowe.

Alyssa Milano plays her part of bad girl OK, but for someone that tries so hard to be nasty, she gets pretty whiny toward the end. Witherspoon, however, practically had honey dripping off of her (damn, that image alone would be worth .. oops, got sidetracked), even when she is angry she is sweet. Petersen played the dad role like he was reading an manual or something. Kind of wooden and a whole lot dense.

However, Wahlberg was just about as nasty as you can get. You just knew from the beginning that every time he opened his mouth nothing but a load of manure was falling out. Hey, I ve met guys like that. The eyes don t lie though and his were telling a completely different story.

So grab up a little Fear and listen to some good music, watch a family come to terms with their relationship and form a new one, and the best yet, learn to really ride the roller coaster.

Thanks,
Susi