Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

This film is surprisingly not horrible. A product of the mid-1990s Rebecca De Mornay boomlet, it takes the woman-in-peril formula and jiggers with it just enough to come up with something worth watching…and not just for De Mornay's bosom.Sarah Taylor (Rebecca De Mornay) is a psychologist who starts receiving threatening letters and packages, like someone is stalking her. But is her stalker Tony Ramirez (Antonio Banderas), the Puerto Rican charmer she's just fallen in love with? I s it Cliff Raddison (Dennis Miller), her upstairs neighbor who had a one-night stand with Sarah long ago and seems desperate for another encounter? Is it Max Chelski (Harry Dean Stanton), the serial killer she's analyzing in prison for his upcoming trial? Could it be her father Henry (Len Cariou), who's just re-entered her life and with whom Sarah has an obviously disturbing relationship? Or does her stalker have something to do with the fiancée who abandoned Sarah almost a year ago? The story keeps you wondering until revealing the truth, which turns out to be pretty decent for a twist ending.Clocking in at under 90 minutes, Never Talk to Strangers is like a well made wading pool. There's no depth to it but it works as it's intended to. There's some sex, some mystery, a little humor from Dennis Miller and just a touch of violence. There's not a lot of chemistry between De Mornay and Antonio Banderas. However, they're both very pretty and the movie moves quickly enough that it never asks you to take their relationship too seriously. De Mornay, Banderas and the rest of the cast do reasonably good acting jobs and the film is adequately written and directed. Despite the ambition of the twist ending, there's not a lot here that will stick with you. For less than 90 minutes, though, it's a pleasant diversion.The only thing that separates Never Talk To Strangers from the typical woman-in-peril movie you'd see on the Lifetime channel are a few F-words, Banderas' bare butt and De Mornay's naked breasts. So, if you're looking for a good, racier version of that sort of thing…you'll find it here.The only truly interesting things about this film are the fact that De Mornay was one of the producers, demonstrating again the principle of Producer Self-Nudity, and that it's a product of the aforementioned De Mornay boomlet. It's one of the more intriguing Hollywood phenomena, where an actress who may have had some success as a starlet but never became a star, suddenly experiences a career resurgence in her 30s. These women usually get one attention-grabbing role and it's like the movie industry notices them again and decides to see if they can squeeze any more juice out of them. Sometimes these boomlets reinvigorate a career, like they did with Sharon Stone. Sometimes it just peters out, like it did with De Mornay. But whatever the reason for them, the 30something boomlet is probably the one thing that keeps a lot of actresses plugging away in movies long after they should have found other employment. I'm pretty sure the beautiful and talented Winona Ryder is wondering when her boomlet is going to come along.

Though overlooked at the time of it's release, "Never Talk to Strangers" is a well-crafted thriller centering on the human dilemma of whether or not to trust others. Rebecca De Mornay stars as Dr Sarah Taylor, a psychologist in an unnamed city who has a difficult personal life. She meets the charming Tony Ramirez (Antonio Banderas) in a supermarket and- despite her many fears- is soon drawn into a passionate relationship with him. Soon after meeting Tony, Sarah acquires a stalker who sends her dead flowers and dismembers her pet cat. The audience is provided with a decent list of possible suspects including Tony, Sarah's missing ex-boyfriend Benny, or possibly her slightly sleazy upstairs neighbor (a surprisingly good Dennis Miller). Other possibilities include her alcoholic father, and associates of serial killer Max Cheski (the wonderful Harry Dean Stanton) on whom she is performing a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation.As the plot unfolds, it appears as if De Mornay's character has nowhere to hide and nobody she can really trust. Various characters appear more or less likely to be guilty of terrorizing her. The film also very deftly portrays Sarah's need for a relationship with Tony even though she is terrified that he is hiding something from her. The acting is top notch and the plot is full of satisfying twists and turns. If you are in the mood for a strong, solid thriller then this ought to be a top choice.

I've been trying to think of a word to describe the main characters in this movie, and the best one is incongruity. A macho-looking Puerto Rican named Tony (Antonio Banderas) dressed in a leather jacket with big silver rings on most of his fingers turns out to be a wine expert and an ex-cop with a great sense of fun and takes his sex either kinky or romantic. An up-scale psychiatrist named Sarah (Rebecca DeMoray) is evaluating a murderer, Max Cheski (Harry Dean Stanton) for Multiple Personality Disorder while she goes through extreme moods shifts. She falls for Tony, who doesn't seem to be her type, yet ends up being the perfect guy to help her with her sexual repression and problems with trust.This movie doesn't quite work as a thriller. It's poorly written and directed. Too many thriller clichés like the over-use of camera shots, quick cuts, and blaring, screeching music at "shocking" moments. There are a number of stalker suspects - is it Tony? Neighbor Cliff? Dad Henry? Cheski? Yet I never believed any of them to be credible suspects. At no point was I ever on the edge of my seat worried about her being with any of these so-called suspects.The clues, at least, are nicely woven in. Although it makes a sartorial and editorial error when it gives us a clue about the real stalker - the film unwittingly rules out one of the suspects, yet keeps on trying to make us believe he's one of them. I had a sense of who it was by the end. Although I found things about it distasteful and not well presented. I was surprised a couple of things, so I didn't guess the entire ending beforehand.I found DeMoray's acting go from passable to over the top at times. The only one who actually makes this movie watchable is Banderas, who manages to do some good things with the poor material he's given. When the film wants to be an erotic thriller, he's the one, not surprisingly, who gives it the eroticism it wants, not DeMoray. Not that they lack chemistry, but she's not as up to the job as he is. When the film wants light, fun romantic moments, he's the one brings them to the film. When the film wants serious dramatic tension, Banderas serves it up. Sometimes, DeMoray either seems to lag behind him or goes over the top in an effort to match him.In spite of it's flaws as a thriller, once you know what's really going on and watch it again, it makes for a decent drama (as long as you ignore the annoying overdone "shocking moments.") Second time through lets you actually understand the whys about things. Unfortunately, most people aren't going to want to watch this thing a second time.

This thriller is a bit rough-edged, but a lot of people like that sort of thing. Rebecca DeMornay was the at the top of her game around this time (early to mid '90s).GOOD NEWS - Overall, an interesting and involving story, especially in the second half. The movie is capped by a surprise ending I defy anyone to guess correctly. There are a few steamy scenes, too.BAD NEWS - No likable characters, too much profanity; a few minor holes in the story; an obvious feminist bias and DeMornay's foul mouth and morals are pretty rotten for a psychologist, the character she plays. The guys - Dennis Miller and Antonio Bandaras - play pretty sleazy characters, too.OVERALL - Interesting movie but too sleazy a feel to it.