“Deep Water” really shouldn’t have the made-for-television feel that plagues it.
OK, essentially, that’s what it is, the movie being the latest release from Disney-owned 20th Century Studio to debut as a Hulu Original.
Yet the talent behind the film — debuting Friday on the Disney-controlled streaming platform — suggests something far better.
The psychological thriller stars Hollywood heavyweight Ben Affleck (“Gone Girl,” “The Last Duel”) alongside rising star Ana de Armas (“Knives Out,” “No Time to Die”) as a couple in a, well, unusual marriage. A quiet-but-friendly man liked by those around him in an affluent community, Affleck’s Vic allows de Armas’ Melinda — who loves being the center of attention — to see other men so long as she doesn’t leave him and their 6-year-old daughter.
The film is an adaption of the well-regarded 1957 novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith, whose other works include “Strangers on a Train” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley.”
Perhaps most importantly, “Deep Water” is helmed by Adrian Lyne, who — with films including “Fatal Attraction,” “Indecent Proposal” and “Unfaithful” to his credit — is no stranger to sexy dramas trafficking in infidelity and obsession.
However, what Hulu subscribers are in for here is a lukewarm R-rated affair that, while being highly concerned with attraction, is only occasionally fatal.
Vic made his money developing software used by drones, an issue for some given the kind of tasks they can be used to carry out. Now, though, Vic spends a lot of time riding his bike around town and through the woods to the nearby gorge, raising snails in a dedicated, very wet environment beneath his house and taking care of daughter Trixie (adorable newcomer Grace Jenkins), whose penchant for commanding Alexa to play “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” throughout the house drives her mother a little crazy.
Melinda would prefer to be in the company of a man or drinking to excess at a social gathering — if not both. We get a sense of this at a party hosted by Vic’s friend Grant (Lil Rel Howery, “Get Out,” “Free Guy”), where she doesn’t care who sees her kissing her boy toy of the moment, Joel (Brendan C. Miller, “Animal Kingdom”).
To concerned acquaintances, Vic acts like her behavior doesn’t really bother him, that he isn’t interested in controlling her.
“What if your concerns aren’t my concerns?” he says.
However, when he gets a moment alone with Joel, he tells him he has murdered a former flame of Melinda’s, a man who has been missing. Joel, understandably, is frightened, and Melinda becomes upset when Joel brings this admission to her, demanding Vic apologize to Joel.
Word of Vic’s confession gets around, but friends chalk it up to the sometimes-odd Vic making a dark joke. However, when the missing man’s body is found in some nearby woods — with a fatal injury contradicting the way Vic claimed to have killed him — we’re not sure what to think.
There will be more men for Melinda — a musician (Jacob Elordi, “Euphoria”) to whom she cuts a sizable check for piano lessons and an old flame (Finn Wittrock, “(American Horror Story”) — and more frustration from Vic.
The main problem: We never really feel it. If Affleck is trying to portray Vic as obsessed with keeping his wife, he barely shows it.
And the movie — penned by Zach Helm (“Stranger Than Fiction”) and “Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson — fails to convince us Vic would be all that interested in staying with Melinda. Yes, she is the mother of his child — and undeniably beautiful — but he seems far happier biking and snail-ing than spending time with her. (She doesn’t even appreciate his cooking, eschewing his lobster bisque for the grilled cheese he whips up for a guest who turns out to be allergic to shellfish. Vic, Vic, she’s not the one, buddy.)
Perhaps Lyne, whose last film was 2002’s aforementioned “Unfaithful,” simply didn’t have his fastball on this one. You keep waiting for this thriller to become, well, thrilling, but even when a writer (Tracy Letts, “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty”) with suspicions about Vic begins to sniff around, the overall energy level barely moves.
We won’t spoil the ending, of course, but know that the movie’s story does depart from the novel’s and concludes with a few moments that are more interesting than “Deep Water” has offered before them.
Still, as with the movie’s appealing stars, director and source material, the climax is not reason enough to carve out a couple of hours to swim in “Deep Water.”
———
‘DEEP WATER’
1.5 stars (out of 4)
MPAA rating: R (for sexual content, nudity, language and some violence)
Running time: 1:55
Where to watch: On Hulu Friday
———
