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Temp, The
Paramount // R // April 16, 2002
List Price: $24.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
Go ahead, hire that cute new secretary. The next thing you know, she'll wreck your marriage, deplete your bank account, smash your reputation, and kill your boss,—or maybe your kids.
That's the thesis of The Temp, only one of several relationship paranoia films of its time, from The Hand That Rocks the Cradle to that grandmother of rash actions-second thoughts movies, Fatal Attraction. The overall theme of these films was that if you let a stranger into your life, or into your house (Pacific Heights), you'll never get rid of him or her until you kill them. And make no mistake, however paranoid you think you are, they are out to get you.
The Temp starts out with a lot of energy and then falls a little flat, with a final moment that is suppose to be something of a surprise, but is perhaps really a set up for a sequel (that never came). Well-coifed Peter Derns (Timothy Hutton) works for Mrs. Appleby's, a cookie company. that has just been taken over by a New York conglomerate. At the precise moment he needs him most, Derns's (male) secretary rushes off to be with his birth-giving wife, despite Derns's pleas ("Hey, labor is like an NBA game. You don't have to be there until the final two minutes"). In comes temp Kris Bolin (Lara Flynn Boyle, coasting off the buzz of Twin Peaks). A paragon of efficiency, Kris gets a last minute presentation together for him, and organizes Dern's finances and work schedule. She even cleans up the office, while wearing low cut blouses and short skirts over seamed hosiery. But as the new owners start making changes in the building, from sacking the security guard to tearing down most of the walls, Derns begins to suspect that Kris's ambition knows no bounds. Now, Derns has a little problem: his wife (TV's Maura Tierney) dumped him because of his paranoid delusions (apparently, paranoia is OK in the boardroom, but unacceptable in the domestic hearth). But when Derns thinks, or thinks he sees, Kris with Derns's best friend—and of course also his closest competitor, business going better when you socialize with the people most out to get you—Brad Montroe (TV's Steven Weber) his worries about Kris's ambition is confirmed. The Temp tightens the screws around Derns for the next hour, until the final "confrontation" between the monster female and her only slightly compromised male dupe. The film ends with a modified RoboCop style moment.
For its first 20 minutes, The Temp is like any ordinary old biz film, and director Tom Holland (Fright Night and numerous other horror films and Stephen King adaptations), and credited screenwriters Kevin Falls and Tom Engelman, are very careful to have Boyle appear sincere and normal. It's really just a talky film, and Holland tries to liven up the proceedings by having people rush down hallways from one office to another, seeking to create urgency where there is none. As the premise gets going, of course, the usual implausible things begin to happen, bee sting fu and heart attacks among them, a series of deaths that if you give any thought to them gives Kris the prescience and power of a Jason Voorhees. Also, Holland and company seem unwilling to explore the darker aspects of their aggressive business setting. In Fatal Attraction and the remake of Cape Fear, the hero is compromised, and the moral terrain becomes complex. Here good is good and evil is evil, and the viewer remains in no doubt whom they are suppose to cheer for. With no deeper resonance, said viewer falls back on looking at various faces from the past and future, such as Faye Dunaway, in modified Network. mode as Derns's boss, looking recently removed from some crypt, and TV's Oliver Platt and Dwight Schultz (The A-Team), passing each other on their way up and down the Hollywood ladder.
The DVD
VIDEO: The Temp looks pretty good for a film almost 10 years old. It's a 1.85:1 image size, enhanced for widescreen televisions. There are no perceptible scratches or other problems with the source print, and the transfer is good, with rich blacks and solid flesh tones; darks may be a little too dark. Cinematographer Steve Yaconelli tends to light interiors like a TV show, with lots of shadows and convenient pools of light, but for the most part his work is effective for the material.
SOUND: Sound options veer between Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, and a French 2.0 Surround option. Curiously, on the French track the voices are very well matched to the actors, and you could argue that the acting is better there then it is on the English version. The film does not exploit the surround possibilities very much, but Frederic Talgorn's effective, if occasionally predictable, score sounds good.
MENUS: A static, silent menu offers 13 chapter scene selection for this 99 minute film.
PACKAGING: The Temp comes in a keep case with a reprint of the original poster on the cover, which is appreciated, and a chapter list inside. The dark red label on the disc borrows black and white images from publicity stills.
EXTRAS: None. Nothing. Paramount has issued a bare bones disc with only scene selection and sound and subtitle options.
Final Thoughts: The Temp is a cute little suspense film more interesting sociologically than cinematically, and a film that doesn't quite live up to the potential of its premise. A lack of extras makes this a must only for deep fans of the film.
Go ahead, hire that cute new secretary. The next thing you know, she'll wreck your marriage, deplete your bank account, smash your reputation, and kill your boss,—or maybe your kids.
That's the thesis of The Temp, only one of several relationship paranoia films of its time, from The Hand That Rocks the Cradle to that grandmother of rash actions-second thoughts movies, Fatal Attraction. The overall theme of these films was that if you let a stranger into your life, or into your house (Pacific Heights), you'll never get rid of him or her until you kill them. And make no mistake, however paranoid you think you are, they are out to get you.
The Temp starts out with a lot of energy and then falls a little flat, with a final moment that is suppose to be something of a surprise, but is perhaps really a set up for a sequel (that never came). Well-coifed Peter Derns (Timothy Hutton) works for Mrs. Appleby's, a cookie company. that has just been taken over by a New York conglomerate. At the precise moment he needs him most, Derns's (male) secretary rushes off to be with his birth-giving wife, despite Derns's pleas ("Hey, labor is like an NBA game. You don't have to be there until the final two minutes"). In comes temp Kris Bolin (Lara Flynn Boyle, coasting off the buzz of Twin Peaks). A paragon of efficiency, Kris gets a last minute presentation together for him, and organizes Dern's finances and work schedule. She even cleans up the office, while wearing low cut blouses and short skirts over seamed hosiery. But as the new owners start making changes in the building, from sacking the security guard to tearing down most of the walls, Derns begins to suspect that Kris's ambition knows no bounds. Now, Derns has a little problem: his wife (TV's Maura Tierney) dumped him because of his paranoid delusions (apparently, paranoia is OK in the boardroom, but unacceptable in the domestic hearth). But when Derns thinks, or thinks he sees, Kris with Derns's best friend—and of course also his closest competitor, business going better when you socialize with the people most out to get you—Brad Montroe (TV's Steven Weber) his worries about Kris's ambition is confirmed. The Temp tightens the screws around Derns for the next hour, until the final "confrontation" between the monster female and her only slightly compromised male dupe. The film ends with a modified RoboCop style moment.
For its first 20 minutes, The Temp is like any ordinary old biz film, and director Tom Holland (Fright Night and numerous other horror films and Stephen King adaptations), and credited screenwriters Kevin Falls and Tom Engelman, are very careful to have Boyle appear sincere and normal. It's really just a talky film, and Holland tries to liven up the proceedings by having people rush down hallways from one office to another, seeking to create urgency where there is none. As the premise gets going, of course, the usual implausible things begin to happen, bee sting fu and heart attacks among them, a series of deaths that if you give any thought to them gives Kris the prescience and power of a Jason Voorhees. Also, Holland and company seem unwilling to explore the darker aspects of their aggressive business setting. In Fatal Attraction and the remake of Cape Fear, the hero is compromised, and the moral terrain becomes complex. Here good is good and evil is evil, and the viewer remains in no doubt whom they are suppose to cheer for. With no deeper resonance, said viewer falls back on looking at various faces from the past and future, such as Faye Dunaway, in modified Network. mode as Derns's boss, looking recently removed from some crypt, and TV's Oliver Platt and Dwight Schultz (The A-Team), passing each other on their way up and down the Hollywood ladder.
The DVD
VIDEO: The Temp looks pretty good for a film almost 10 years old. It's a 1.85:1 image size, enhanced for widescreen televisions. There are no perceptible scratches or other problems with the source print, and the transfer is good, with rich blacks and solid flesh tones; darks may be a little too dark. Cinematographer Steve Yaconelli tends to light interiors like a TV show, with lots of shadows and convenient pools of light, but for the most part his work is effective for the material.
SOUND: Sound options veer between Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, and a French 2.0 Surround option. Curiously, on the French track the voices are very well matched to the actors, and you could argue that the acting is better there then it is on the English version. The film does not exploit the surround possibilities very much, but Frederic Talgorn's effective, if occasionally predictable, score sounds good.
MENUS: A static, silent menu offers 13 chapter scene selection for this 99 minute film.
PACKAGING: The Temp comes in a keep case with a reprint of the original poster on the cover, which is appreciated, and a chapter list inside. The dark red label on the disc borrows black and white images from publicity stills.
EXTRAS: None. Nothing. Paramount has issued a bare bones disc with only scene selection and sound and subtitle options.
Final Thoughts: The Temp is a cute little suspense film more interesting sociologically than cinematically, and a film that doesn't quite live up to the potential of its premise. A lack of extras makes this a must only for deep fans of the film.
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