Fatal Instinct

A wild spoof of suspense and film noirs, I appreciated this silly film a little more than most being a fan of "noirs." As with any comedy, the movie is a combination of genuinely laugh-out-loud gags and sight scenes and... Full review

Carl Reiner, a man that knows about comedy, is the man behind this spoof on the noir genre. Mr. Reiner, working here with David O'Malley's screen play, has created a film that parodies movies like "Double Indemnity", "Basic Instinct", and... Full review

Armand Assante plays a great "distracted" Ned Ravine and brings comic timing that Johnny Carson would admire. Kate Nelligan plays Lana Ravine (Ned's Wife)and does a great Barbara Stanywick imitation through-out the film.These two combine with Sean Young,Sheilyn Fenn ,and... Full review

This film is a parody of films like fatal attraction and basic instict. There are many jokes in this film but about 20 percent of them made me laugh. You know a movie isn't doing very well when you're impatiently waiting... Full review

Very funny film noir spoof, that's undeservedly criticised. It may lack the "quality" feel of e.g. The Naked Gun, but I think it's almost as funny.The film looks great, and the jokes aren't as much of a hit-and-miss affair as... Full review

This film has been repeated like 4 times on cable TV here in Sweden in the past year! I watched it the first showing (last year) and it is SO my type of movie. I read what it was about... Full review

I am afraid I am a sap for the whole spoof genre, and this appears as funny as any to me. Armand Assante as the hero who is both a cop and a lawyer (" I am going to have... Full review

I stumbled upon this film late one night on TV a few years ago and laughed so hard that I could barely breathe. Armand Assante plays Ned Ravine, a totally clueless cop/lawyer. He is so clueless that he doesn't see... Full review

Strange, but when I think about this one, the expression "oldie but goodie" comes to mind. After sitting through countless comedies and parodies with gross and often times just plain bad jokes (try scary movie) one might wonder if it... Full review

Fatal Instinct is one of those guilty pleasures. It's incredibly silly and very funny. Some of the dialogue sounds dead on fast-talking early detective thriller, but the actions are outrageous and the physical comedy non-stop. If you liked the Naked... Full review

As a result, "Fatal Instinct" comes off today as a hit-and-miss affair at best. More to the point, many of the jokes fall on the thankless ears of an audience much younger than Reiner, an audience largely deaf to the nuances of the noir genre. ... Full Review

Reiner forgets that the Roberts scene was already funny for taking itself so seriously.....Most painful of all, serious actors strain to be funny..... ... Full Review

This movie is about as stale and unfunny as they come.....Of the actors, only Armand Assante and Sherilyn Fenn give credible performances.....In this film, it's painfully evident how unimaginative the script is.....Rapid-fire humor succeeds only when there are enough amusing bits to keep the viewer's mind off everything that falls through.....Assante isn't as good doing the dead-pan cop as Leslie Nielsen.... ... Full Review

True, Sean Young, as one of the film's three femme fatales, is armed with an ice pick, but she's got nowhere new and interesting to stick it. It's broad instead of sly, as when Young tries a spraddle-legged sendup of Sharon "I'm not wearing any underpants" Stone. ... Full Review

in order to understand how silly this movie is, on the other hand, all you have to do is sit through it.....Reiner has certainly been funnier and more inventive on other outings and Sherilyn Fenn makes a winsome gal Friday..... ... Full Review

Published: Tuesday, Nov. 2, 1993 12:00 a.m. MST There are some laughs in "Fatal Instinct." But there are an awful lot of dead spots in between. ... Full Article

Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more. Film parodies have been around for a long time, and contrary to popular belief they were not invented by Mel Brooks. ... Full Article

From Amazon : Carl Reiner tried to give the Mel Brooks treatment to the Fatal Attraction/Basic Instinct genre of films about vicious, conniving women and the not-so-bright men who get involved with them. ... Full Article

Director Carl Reiner and writer David O'Malley simply cast their nets too far and wide in this grating sendup, which proves crude without being clever or, for that matter, even remotely funny. ... Full Article