Never let her out of your sight. Never let your guard down. Never fall in love.
Rating: 6/10
Running Time: 124 minutes
UK Certificate: 15
On DVD
Kevin Costner stars as Frank Farmer, a retired secret service man who is haunted by the fact that he wasnt on duty to protect President Reagan when he was shot at. Now he works as a bodyguard for high-profile clients, and has a reputation for getting the job done. When singer and actress Rachel Marron (Whitney Houston) starts receiving threatening letters, her manager hires Farmer to supervise her protection. Rachel is a difficult client that fully justifies Farmers preference not to work for celebrities, and his position is made more difficult because Rachel is being kept in the dark about the extent of the threat to her.
Farmer upsets the singer and most of her entourage with his demands for increased security. In time, however, the two start to reach an understanding and spend more time together. As they get to know one another they start an affair that Farmer immediately regrets the following morning. He feels that his behaviour was unprofessional and calls the whole thing off. But as the stalker strikes, Rachel starts to realise that Farmers precautions were more than necessary and that she still needs his protection. Soon it becomes clear that the stalker is no madman but a professional killer who wont stop until the job is done.
Somehow, although almost everything about this film is substandard, taken together as a package it does work to a surprising extent. The plot is weak and full of holes, especially once it gets into explaining who hired the hitman. Kevin Costners role is rather dull in both the writing and acting, and Whitney Houston sometimes cracks under the strain of her more emotional moments in this, her film debut. The soundtrack still contains one or two highlights, but the rest has dated and was always overly glitzy and commercial. Yet somehow this became one of the most successful movies of its year and it does have a charm that is hard to explain.
It's Got: A soundtrack including hits like I Will Always Love You and I Have Nothing.
It Needs: A much more convincing plot.
DVD Extras No extras are included with this basic single disc release. DVD Extras Rating: 0/10
Summary
Superficial but pleasant romantic thriller that lacks substance but has a certain charm. It shouldnt work but somehow gets away with it.