Pretty Good

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

A lot of fun.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

In Little Hope, New Hampshire, the beautiful and hot Suzanne Stone (Nicole Kidman) wants to be famous and is an aspiring TV personality. She marries Larry Maretto (Matt Dillon), whose father owns a restaurant, and convinces him to use this savings for the university buying a Mustang for her and a condo. Then she accepts to work for the local station receiving minimum wage to develop her own projects, including one with youths in a public school. She meets the punks Jimmy Emmett (Joaquin Phoenix), Russel Hines (Casey Affleck) and Lydia Mertz (Alison Folland) and records hours of tapes interviewing them. When Larry invites her to work at the restaurant in a talent show that he wants to implement, Suzanne sees a threat to her planned career and decides to get rid of her husband. She seduces Jimmy and convinces him that she is in love with him. Then she tells that Larry is a brutal man and Jummy decides to kill him. What will happen to Larry?"To Die For" is a great tale of ambition and manipulation. Gus Van Sant uses the documentary style to show a beautiful and sexy woman that uses her limited intelligence and her body to reach what she has planned for her career. The cast has great performance and Nicole Kidman is perfect in the role of Suzanne Stone. The screenplay has a sort of black humor and the conclusion is ironical. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Um Sonho Sem Limites" ("A Dream Without Limits")

Great movie by Gus van Zant. Clever, darkly funny script. Deft direction.Now for the weird thing: it stars Nicole Kidman. Yes, a great Nicole Kidman movie. That is normally oxymoronic, here it isn't. (She has made two other good movies - Dogville and Birthday Girl). Kidman's performance is wickedly brilliant. The supporting cast are equally good - Matt Dillon in his usual blokey sort of role is solid. Joaquin Phoenix, in one of his earliest movie roles, shows the talent that later got him two Oscar nominations. Casey Affleck also appears in one of his earliest roles (and demonstrates more acting ability than his brother has in any of his movies).In short, a great comedy-thriller-drama.

Gus Van Sant directed this sly satire starring Nicole Kidman as ambitious but cold-hearted woman named Suzanne Stone, who has plans on becoming a television star and news anchor, and will do anything to make that happen. When she realizes that her husband Larry(played by Matt Dillon) is holding her back, she concocts a scheme to use teenage admirer Jimmy(played by Joaquin Phoenix) to murder Larry, and uses the promise of sex to accomplish this. What she didn't count on was the determination of Larry's father(played by Dan Hedaya) and sister(played by Illeana Douglas) to avenge his death... Nicole Kidman is stunning, delivering a believable(and sexy) performance, and the whole cast is fine. Quite funny yet also tragic look at wasted lives is also an ironic commentary on fame, and what people are willing to do to get it.

There have been Orwellian shout-outs and warnings about "False Realities" for ever. But that doesn't stop them from becoming real. People Magazine has absolutely nothing to do with "real" People. Fox News shamelessly proclaiming "Fair and Balanced", and so on.This is a smaller and much more low-budgeted Satire about TV and Celebrity and the blurring of "Truth" validated through Media than the great "Network" (1976) and the over rated "Broadcast News" (1987). But what it lacks in financing it makes up for in a witty, dark, and piercing Script along with Artsy, sure handed Direction. Add to that some spot on Performances by a fresh (at the time) Cast of Newcomers.It is a relevant and timeless Tale (adapted from a real Tabloid tragedy) that cuts sharply and is disturbing to watch at times and is a powerfully made and under rated Movie that is one of Gus Van Zant's best and still stands as top tier Nicole Kidman.