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List Price: $9.99 | | Label: Walt Disney Video
Salesrank: 30549
Released: October 14, 2003 |
| Our Price: $5.13 |
| Used Price: $3.72 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Academy Award(R)-winner Kevin Kline (1988 Best Supporting Actor -- A FISH CALLED WANDA) and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (A PERFECT STORM) heat up the screen in CONSENTING ADULTS, the spine-tingling sexy thriller that seduced audiences and critics alike. When two couples living next door to each other grow too close, one of the husbands risks everything for a passion he can't resist -- his neighbor's wife. His temptation traps the foursome in a shocking web of betrayal and murder. And now accused of a crime he didn't commit, he must race against time to save his family from a shocking fate. Directed by master of suspense Alan J. Pakula (PRESUMED INNOCENT), this erotic thriller twists and turns as tension builds to a sensational heart-stopping climax.
Consenting Adults Reviews:
"Come to Papa." 
2008-11-24 - Despite its suggestive title, this is actually a mystery/thriller and a very good one. Richard and Priscilla are a happily-married couple who have new neighbors, Eddy and Kay. Eddy is a bit unscrupulous and a little strange, yet he works very hard to establish a tight friendship with Richard. Richard is shocked when Eddy suggests a wife-swap, but later thinks it might be fun.
The first half is a rather typical suburban-marriage story, but before you know it, BAM! It turns into a scary murder story with twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat. Kevin Kline gives a strong performance as mild-mannered Richard who thinks the grass is greener next door, but Kevin Spacey steals the show, as usual. He plays overly-friendly Eddy, gradually becoming the kind of raving psychopath that Spacey plays so well.
There are many plot holes that make the story more than a little far-fetched, but still I enjoyed it and recommend it for those who like thrillers.
Consenting Adults 
2007-07-02 - Not a bad first half, up through the murder. But when Kevin Kline's character was released on bond, that's pretty much when it fell through the roof. I've never heard of somebody making bail when they are facing life in prison or the death sentence. And then being able to go anywhere you want? Even on bail, you can't leave the city. But yet he was able to sneak around, travel to Savannah, spy on his rival, all without any hindrance from the police. I pretty much figured out why the neighbor replaced his wife with a "stand-in". He needed somebody to drive the cigarette boat to prove he was out on the lake; but what I don't understand is why he allowed her to leave unharmed when all was said and done. Not only that, you would think both the police and the insurance company would have done a better job at the investigation, especially when 1.5 mil was on the line. I'm not sure about anybody else, but regardless if the police think they have the right man or not, if money is on the line they usually investigate all ends before making their decision.
Don't believe the bad reviews.
2007-03-23 - Do NOT believe the bad reviews this movie got.
I saw this several years ago, and for the last 2 years it has driven me crazy trying to remember the NAME of it, so I can buy the DVD !
The plot is really a good one. Kevin Spacey and his wife have a loving relationship, although a little boring after so many years together. They become friends with the new neighbors, and the new neighbor talks Spacey into a wife swap early one morning.
The neighbor lady turns up dead, and Kevin Spacey is framed for her murder. I believe he makes bond, and soon discovers he was framed, and the man next door's wife is not actually his WIFE, but his partner in crime. Since his wife is "dead" he moves in with Spacey's wife, and takes over his bank etc...
It gets very suspensful as Spacey sets out to prove his innocence...He also sees the woman he "murdered" in another town.What happens really shocked me. The movie is full of twists and turns,and that is what makes it so good. Sure, some of it is a little far fetched, but so are most movies, but not TOO unbelievable.
Without giving too much away (believe me, there is so much to this movie, I didn't)
it will keep you on the edge of your seat till the very end.
This movie is not only worth renting, if you are a collector you will want to add it to your collection !
Embarrassingly Bad 
2006-06-14 - After reading some of the scathing reviews below, I can only AGREE 100%. I caught this on HBO, late at night when I had nothing better to do. This piece of crap is so preposterous, I've seen better plots on episodes of The A Team. The fact that all the actors act so "serious" in this movie is chuckle-inspirting, shame on all of them.
PUTRID, VACUOUS & INANE... AND THAT'S JUST DESCRIBING THE WRITER
2006-02-18 -
MATTHEW CHAPMAN.
I want you to remember this name. Sear it into your memory. Because this guy should be arrested, tried and convicted for perpetrating a heinous crime: Wasting 99 precious minutes of anyone's time who sits through this vapid clunker.
Matthew Chapman wrote this script. Matthew Chapman is a very bad writer.
Just as convicted PC virus authors are legally restrained from owning or operating a computer, so while on this Earth should the same fate Matthew Chapman suffer. When he passes from this life, he should be made to watch this dreck of a movie, repeatedly, start to finish, as eternal punishment.
I have watched thousands, probably tens of thousands of films in my lifetime. I can never remember a film where my emotions were so affected during the progression of the movie. I went from amusement to disbelief, disbelief to incredulity, incredulity to anger, then anger to enraged. Why?
Because Matthew Chapman, Hollywood hack that he is, wasted 99 minutes of my life with a script so preposterous, nonsensical and idiotic that I actually felt insulted after having seen it.
This film was produced in 1992. I imagine the studio must have been pouring through piles of old scripts, searching for something similar to capitalize on the high-profile "Basic Instinct", which came out the same year.
You could compare Chapman's efforts to "Basic" writer Joe Eszterhaus, who had his own well-deserved trash-notoriety in the 90's, but that would actually be insulting Eszterhaus. And THAT is an accomplishment in and of itself.
There is a progression of events which transpire in the production of every film. The chain starts with a writer and a script. When Matthew Chapman finished the last page of this piece of refuse, did he feel like he had accomplished something? Did he congratulate himself, not realizing he had just completed one of the worst movie scripts of the 1990's?
And then you have to wonder about the rest of the chain. If I were any of the principles in this atrocity, I would have fired any representation that advised me to be involved with it. What did an accomplished director like the late Alan Pakula, and seasoned actors such as Kevin Kline, Kevin Spacey and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, see in this abortion?
You'd think Chapman wouldn't be able to get near the big screen again, but he authored two other scripts that were made into equally bad films: "The Color Of Night" (1994) and "What's The Worst That Can Happen" (2001).
Three films in ten years; what does this guy do a for a day job? It must be something connected with waste management, because Matthew Chapman certainly seems to be obsessed with the volume production of garbage.
If you ever pay to see a film in a theater, and the name MATTHEW CHAPMAN shows up in the opening credits, run for the lobby with your ticket stub and demand your money back.
