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Review

An unexpectedly entertaining, if at times slow paced effort, In the Cut is not as much the stereotypical erotic thriller as it is a quirky, artsy, mystery with an emphasis on the lead character’s sexual desires and passions. America’s Sweetheart, Meg Ryan, bares all for the part of Frannie Avery, a New York professor whose passions are language, poetry and sex. The spunky Ryan brazenly reveals her impressive forty-something bosom and taught tush in several racy scenes that border on porn. A great departure from the bulk of her work, Ryan shines in her role of the mousy teacher with an unshakable, repressed sexual yearning, and actually surpasses any and all expectations.

Frannie collects slang expressions from a flirtatious student, Cornelius (Pugh), and talks sex and love with her half-sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh), with whom she shares a curiously close relationship. Her sexual frustrations and obsession are first evidenced when she stumbles upon a man receiving oral sex from a woman in the bowels of a seedy bar and proceeds to spy on the couple for some time. Later she meets Homicide Detective Malloy (Ruffalo) who is investigating the murder and “dis-articulation” of a girl in the neighborhood. Ruffalo plays his part flawlessly, ideal as the sleazy, mustached cop with a secret and the two almost immediately begin a heated affair.

As the murders escalate and the killer slowly closes in on her, the list of probable suspects swells. In fact the question isn’t whodunit so much as who didn’t do it. From Malloy, to Cornelius to Frannie’s emotionally unbalanced ex-boyfriend (Kevin Bacon in an outstanding and thoroughly enjoyable performance), virtually every individual in Frannie’s life has motive, means and opportunity. The off-key tone of the film keeps it from ever becoming too formulaic or listless. Instead, granting an atmosphere that is both ominous and compelling. Ryan’s and Ruffalo’s sex scenes burn with intensity and are quite explicit as are the bloody murder scenes and violent imagery. But neither element necessarily overwhelms the film to any great extent. For all its red herrings, however, the conclusion and consequent revelation comes off contrived and a bit too coincidental, failing to satisfy. Nevertheless, the principal theme here is sexual obsession - be it Pauline’s preoccupation with stalking a married man with whom she had an affair, Malloy’s duplicity or Frannie’s own search for a sexual identity – this is what drives the film and its characters. And this, along with a refreshingly atypical sense of imagery and characterization, is what prevents In the Cut from being just another run-of-the-mill sexed-up slasher flick.

 -- PJ