Malice

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This thriller was made at a time when Nicole Kidman was forging a strong and very individual career away from the films of her then-husband Tom Cruise. She plays the seemingly innocent young newlywed who ensnares nice-but-dim husband Bill Pullman and charismatic surgeon Alec Baldwin in a deadly scam. Kidman is smart and sexy as the femme fatale figure, while Baldwin, always better at being bad, excels as the arrogant medic. The talented supporting cast also includes Anne Bancroft, Bebe Neuwirth, George C Scott and Peter Gallagher. Aaron Sorkin and Scott Frank's screenplay is a mite too tortuous, but director Harold Becker, best known for Sea of Love and The Onion Field, has fun piling on the red herrings and never lets the tension drop.