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The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

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To Die For (1995)

Rating: 3 Stars (out of 4)

Weather or Not

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy To Die For on DVD.

Gus Van Sant directed this sharp black comedy about the obsession with television and celebrity culture. Nicole Kidman stars in perhaps her first great role as a wannabe small-time weather anchorwoman who kills her husband and gets away with it because of her awesome television presence. She deliciously matches her stunning looks with a nasty wit that we can't help fall prey to. She gets a gleam in her eye when she is working, and a nasty scowl when she has to deal with real life. Despite her villainy, we can't help dreamily following her every move, lost in a daze of snakelike charm. Buck Henry (The Graduate) wrote the screenplay, and director David Cronenberg has a funny little cameo as a hit man.

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Matt Dillon, Joaquin Phoenix, Casey Affleck, Illeana Douglas, Dan Hedaya, Buck Henry, David Cronenberg, George Segal (unbilled)
Written by: Buck Henry, based on the novel by Joyce Maynard
Directed by: Gus Van Sant
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 107 minutes
Date: April 25, 1997