Ben Affleck stars as Vic, a well-to-do family man whose sexy alcoholic wife, Melinda (Ana de Armas) likes to sleep around. When her latest boy toy is being less than secretive about their relationship, Vic boasts that he killed the last guy who banged her. Others pick up on the comment and think it’s a morbid joke. However, Melinda isn’t laughing when another one of her conquests winds up dead in the pool and soon, Vic becomes the prime suspect.
Deep Water is anchored by Affleck’s quiet, but blandly menacing performance. He seems to be having fun playing the guy you thought his character was in Gone Girl. He probably thought if his buddy, Matt Damon could play a sociopath in an adaptation of a Patricia Highsmith novel, so could he. De Armas is sexy as ever and is quite good as using that allure to mask sadness, suspicion, and shame. Their love scenes together are more of married couple variety, except for that one where she makes Ben kiss her ass, literally. That’s fine though because director Adrian (Fatal Attraction) Lyne (helming his first movie in two decades) is going more for intimacy than titillation, which works as there’s plenty of chemistry between the two stars. (Who were an item offscreen shortly before J.Lo came back into Affleck’s life.)
Lyne was one of the architects of the erotic thriller genre with Fatal Attraction. Since Lyne was at the helm, and the fact that the sex scenes were hyped up may give you the impression it will be your typical erotic thriller. However, if you go into the movie expecting Skinamax-style thrills, you may be a tad disappointed as the film is more of a portrait of a troubled marriage with subtly sinister undertones than your average late-night cable flick. It may be called Deep Water, but it’s what’s bubbling just under the surface that makes it crackle.
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