Passion

Directed by Brian De Palma

(R)

**

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Brian De Palma’s latest qualifies as “good, devious fun,” said Kurt Loder in Reason.com. The director might merely be exercising old obsessions—“murder, deceit, and treacherous -lesbians”—but this stylish remake of a 2010 French thriller is “never for a moment dull.” Be thankful for De Palma’s visual mastery, because this tale of female rivalry has to overcome “risible dialogue of the 1950s B-movie femme fatale variety,” while the acting “isn’t much better,” said Bill Goodykoontz inthe Phoenix Arizona Republic. Rachel McAdams proves “howlingly bad” as a driven ad executive who steals an idea from her assistant and thus launches the escalating tit for tat. Meanwhile, the usually strong Noomi Rapace can’t quite sell her own character’s “increasingly unbelievable” response. De Palma seems to have borrowed his ideas about lesbianism from 1990s-era midnight cable TV, said Alan Scherstuhl in The Village Voice. Yet he salvages Passion by lacing its final third with “fakeouts upon fakeouts.” Here, “like some grand old pop star,” the 72-year-old director “seems to be greatest hits-ing us,” giving us fans a grand encore.