DVD Review: Exit to Eden
Written by: Kage Alan

Film Rating: C-
DVD Special Features: C-

            Poor Anne Rice hasn't had much luck with film adaptations of her books.  Yes, "Interview With a Vampire" is probably the best of them all, but even that isn't saying a whole lot.  "Queen of the Damned" changed so much from the book and left so much out that it died a quick death at the box office
despite the legions of fans there to see a final glimpse of the very talented
Aaliyah.  Before either of those two films, though, there was "Exit To Eden."
Now, I've read some of Anne Rice's erotica before and I feel confident enough to say that I'm sure the movie is hardly a fair representation of the book. Director Garry Marshall, normally a very dependable filmmaker, got a hold of the script and added his own magical touch to it.  Wrong!  He turned it into a comedy and a very uneven one at that.

Fred Lavery (Dan Aykroyd, "Ghostbusters") and Sheila Kingston (Rosie
O'Donnell, "Stakeout 2") are the two straightest undercover police officers
to be found in L.A.  They don't look pretty, they don't act it and they don't
have to.  Neither has particularly good luck in relationships either, but
that doesn't matter because the job comes first.  Their current assignment
has them tracking down a pair of international jewel thieves, Nina Blackstone
(Iman, "Star Trek VI") and Omar (Stuart Wilson, "Vertical Limit").   
Unfortunately for the two baddies, a photographer named Elliot Slater (Paul
Mercurio, "Strictly Ballroom") snaps both their pictures during an exchange
at the airport.  After just narrowly missing getting caught by Fred and
Sheila, Nina and Omar decide to track down Elliot and steal the potentially
damaging film before the Police get their hands on it.

While this might seem like an easy task for everybody to accomplish, it seems
that Elliot has some intimacy issues and decides to head out to an S&M resort
named Eden run by Hector Elizondo ("Pretty Woman") and overseen by dominatrix Mistress Lisa Emerson (Dana Delany).  The bad guys don't care where they go as long as they get the film and the two good guys are a little less than pleased to discover their destination.  There's plenty of room for humor and laughs as Aykroyd and O'Donnell try to fit in with the rest of the staff and guests and act as if nothing shocks them while searching for Elliot and
keeping an eye out for Nina and Omar.

While there are a number of humorous moments, the film didn't start off to be
a comedy.  The core of the story is supposed to be about Lisa and Elliot
finding each other and sending each other over the edge mentally and
sexually.  While the film does retain some of these concepts, it is never
able to be fully faithful to its S&M roots despite the bits of nudity and
domination nor mix the comedy in convincingly.  I believe I read that the
studio was worried about the film's content, so it added in the Aykroyd and
O'Donnell characters.  Well, they should have just dropped the entire project
until the decided on what the film was really going to be.  A somewhat abrupt
change of location three quarters of the way through from the island to New
Orleans also feels very out of place and the film overstays its welcome.

The video quality on the disc is extremely disappointing.  What little bit of
the picture you get looks okay, but the cropped Pan and Scan presentation
really makes it impossible to enjoy the splendor of the cinematography.  
Despite the plot, the film is beautifully shot and there's much to see, only
you won't find it on this disc.  The Dolby Surround sound is nice, though
it's unlikely you'll get much use out of it.  Everything is pretty
straightforward and it's not a big effects film at all, but it does sound
decent.

HBO has included a few more extras on this release than on "Split Second",
but nothing that really stands out.  There's a decent "Cast/Crew Bios" area,
a theatrical trailer, two TV spots, a 4 minute fluff featurette that acts as
an extended preview, a 4 ½ minute behind-the-scenes montage that basically
showcases one sequence between Aykroyd and O'Donnell during and in between takes (what was the point of this?) along with one other snippet and,
finally, a series of on-set interview clips with Rosie O'Donnell, Dan
Aykroyd, Dana Delany, Iman and Garry Marshall.  There's nothing much of
consequence here, but it's nice that HBO included it since they screwed us
with a Pan and Scan transfer.  The $19.99 MSRP is simply too much for what
you're getting here.

"Exit To Eden" isn't a great movie by any means, but it does have moments.  I
can appreciate nudity in a film as much as the next person, but it's not used
particularly effectively here and the two police detectives are used too much
as bumbling fools instead of a genuine fish-out-of-water-used-for-humor
device that would have been more appropriate.  Just keep your expectations
low and sit back and enjoy.  I'm also hoping that HBO isn't starting a new
trend with these Pan and Scan releases with the $20 price tag.  That crap
needs to be nipped in the bud and quickly.

Kage holds degrees in Creative Writing, as well as Film & Video. He has been featured in a Life Journey Tele-Course, published poems in several national anthologies, been a contributor to The Third Coast Magazine and written several novels. kage@modamag.com This site is a