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BEAUTIFUL CREATURES Send This Review to a Friend
Nothing is beautiful about "Beautiful Creatures," a smart-alecky murder romp set in Glasgow, written by Simon Donald and directed by Bill Eagles. Not only the villains are unsympathetic. The two abused women who get even with the men who mistreat them aren't particularly adorable either.
Dark-haired Susan Lynch as Dorothy, ready to skip town with her dog to escape her enraged brute of a boyfriend who's angry because she has pawned his golf clubs, comes across Petula (Rachel Weisz), a blonde being choked in the street by her louse of a lover. Dorothy comes to the rescue and kills him, although she just meant to stop him from hurting poor Dorothy. The incident sets off events that escalate into more death and a ransom scheme. Eventually, a corrupt detective who is hot for Petula gets into the act.
The abused women issue is merely the take-off for a macabre tale with twists and turns and such delights as a severed finger that figures in the plot. We are supposed to be amused by it all. The trouble is that if the women don't come across as worth rooting for and the men are horrors, all that's left is the story gimmickry. The film isn't clever enough to stand as a good noir. All that's left is the unpleasantness. A Universal Focus release.
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