You aren't really anybody in America if you're not on TV (To Die for (DVD))

Member Name: mmintfresh

Product:	To Die for (DVD)
Date:	22/08/02 (37 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nicole Kidman

Disadvantages: End

Suzanne Stone (Nicole Kidman) always had one goal, to be on television. Her entire life revolves around television and fame. She comes from a good family and they are appalled when she decides to marry Larry (Matt Dillon) who's family is suspected to have links with he mafia. Suzanne's family feel that Larry brings out her wild side. Larry's family think she is a little strange and Larry's sister (Illeana Douglas) thinks she is cold and false. The two go on their honeymoon and seems to have a nice time. Unbeknown to everyone Suzanne is just using it as a stepping stone to break into tv. Whilst Larry is off fishing she sneaks into a convention about broadcasting and has an affair with a top network executive to help her job. When they get home Suzanne gets a job at a tv station. She works her way up until she is allowed to report the weather just before the channel finished for the night. She takes this way to seriously and thinks that she is climbing the fame ladder.

Another thing she decides to do is start a project. She goes to a local high school and asks any willing students to sign up for a documentary she’s making. Three people sign up. They are all outsiders. There is Russell (Casey Affleck) who is forced to join by a teacher after he is rude to Suzanne, misguided Lydia (Alison Folland) who has dreams of being on TV and Jimmy (Joaquin Phoenix) who has a crush on her. She spends hours with the kids taping everything. She also notices that Jimmy fancies her and decides to use this to her advantage. Suzanne is fed up with her marriage. Larry is not the man for her, he is to conventional, and that won't do for an aspiring star. He also starts to get a little threat and Suzanne sees him as something stopping her from reaching her muchly desired big break. So she seduces Jimmy and persuades him to kill her husband.

I discovered this film a few years ago when it was on TV. I probably would have never even considered watc
hing it otherwise. I am pleased to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the film. What sounds like a thriller/drama is actually a hilarious satire on the media and it's obsesses. The film itself is told in a documentary style. The story is told through interviews from the families and the teenagers and Suzanne herself, telling her life story. These are cut between the events as they really happened. Suzanne takes up a lot of this interview time. She has set herself up in front of a camera and just talks. Telling her media friend version of the events, almost as if she has meticulously scripted, memorized and practiced the whole thing. The other interviews look like they are off of some sort of true crime show about a serial killer. With everyone saying how Suzanne they felt about Suzanne etc, Buck Henry, who wrote the screenplay has done a superb job because he makes the dialogue in these scenes sound spontaneous and unscripted but also manages to make these segments funny because they are satirical.

The other section of the film, where we see the events unfold often contradicts with what Suzanne says, which is funny and also shows the audience what Suzanne's experience with the media really is, the way she talks you would think that she was some sort of top notch new reporter/interviewer, when really she does the weather for a silly little local station. These scenes are funny because of Suzanne but the best part of the film has to be her taped interview.

Suzanne is really the best thing about the film, at the beginning she seems a sweet person who has a dream not unlike many other people, although she seems a little stupid and over ambitious she draws the audience into her and at first we like her because she is harmless and we also feel a little sorry for her. She is also very funny because she is a mixture of every media and fame obsessed person that ever lived. However when we see that she will not let anything stand in her way the
opinion towards her instantly changes, she now seems cold and calculating who not only manipulates the characters in the film but the audience. Nicole Kidman puts in an Oscar worthy performance as her. She looks the part in her bright outfits, perfectly applied makeup and a hairstyle right out of the latest fashion magazine. She has also got the mannerisms down to the smallest detail. Her weather reports look authentic and her interview feels as if she has done the same thing a million times. Kidman manages to make Suzanne a lovable and loathsome person and a memorable film character.

Kidman also has support with some outstanding performances in supporting roles. Phoenix makes Jimmy a sympathetic character. He makes him believable stupid and easy to manipulate and does genuinely seem to idolise Suzanne. His story is quite heartbreaking. He is drawn in by Suzanne's charm then tossed aside as she finds the next victim that will help her further her career. Folland is also good as Lydia. She also does a brilliant job of becoming a slave to Suzanne’s charisma and thinks of her as a sister but then is rejected and feels upset.

Gus Van Sant does a great job of directing, he effortlessly cuts inbetween the interviews and the real events and keeps the pace even. Buck Henry also does a great job with the script and manages to put in some laugh out loud moments alongside some more intelligently funny elements. The one thing wrong with the film is the end half. The focus of the film is Suzanne's obsession but the plot then quickly and unevenly does a u-turn and the murder becomes the focus. The ending is also too neatly rounded up but despite that it is still a fantastic film.

Summary: