Film Review: The Temp (1993)

In early 1990s Hollywood was churning out thrillers about devious psychopaths wrecking lives of middle and upper class families under the guise of innocuous and harmless persons. The Temp, 1993 film directed by Tom Holland, contributed to the trend by adding corporate America as one of the villain’s additional targets.

Protagonist, played by Timothy Hutton, is Peter Derns, executive in Mrs. Appleby, baked good company in Portland, Oregon. He goes to therapy after being forced to leave his wife Sharon (played by Maura Tierney) due to outbursts of pathological jealousy and paranoia. His mental state is not helped by increasingly stressful situation at the workplace, because his boss Charlene Towne (played by Faye Dunaway), faced with upcoming takeover by larger corporation, puts increasingly demanding tasks on the staff. When Peter’s assistant Lance (played by Scott Coffey) becomes unavailable due his wife having a baby, Peter hires temporary replacement in form Kris Bolin (played by Lara Flynn Boyle) who proves to be efficient, resourceful and loyal. She remains in Peter’s office after Lance is incapacitated due to freak accident and later helps him advance in corporate ladder. This happens because Peter’s office rivals die in mysterious circumstances, while at the same time Peter’s attempts to get back with her wife are apparently being sabotaged. Since Kris apparently attempts to seduce him in order to advance her own career, Peter begins to wonder whether she is behind all those events or whether he might become her next victim.

Eight year earlier Tom Holland made very good directorial debut with horror comedy Fright Night, which showed his knack for dark humour. He tried to take The Temp to that route, but apparently script by Kevin Falls and Tom Engelman was envisioned as straight thriller. Holland failed to get his way and in the post-production studio executives interfered against him, resulting in generic product which was disappointing and forgettable. The Temp works best in the first half, when it sets up plot and somewhat unusual protagonist, a man suffering from deep trauma and paranoia, being adequately played by Timothy Hutton. Lara Flynn Boyle, then at the peak popularity after starring as Donna Hayward in Twin Peaks, looks stunning and very confidently plays icy and calculating femme fatale. Film begins to fall apart at the middle when the script tries to play with audience’s expectations, suggesting that Kris might be actually innocent and putting more emphasis on character of Charlene, played by Faye Dunaway with complete lack of restraint (which would later earn her Razzie for Worst Supporting Actress). This creates a lot of plot holes. Impression is slightly improved by old school music score by Frédéric Talgorn which provides a little bit of Hitchcockian atmosphere. The Temp has unusual ending, which was actually shot in post-production after the original ending had been judged too gruesome by test audience. That ending could have been very effective in other film, but in The Temp it comes as nothing more than afterthought and can’t prevent disappointment among the audience.

RATING: 4/10 (+)

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