DEEP WATER (2022) Reviews of Ben Affleck, Ana De Armas murder mystery thriller – now with trailer

What do you think of this movie? Click on a star to rate it
  

Deep-Water-movie-film-thriller-murder-Ben-Affleck-Ana-de-Armas-2022-poster

‘The love story is never the whole story’

Deep Water is a 2022 thriller film about a well-to-do husband who allows his wife to have affairs. However, her lovers start turning up dead.

Directed by Adrian Lyne (Unfaithful; 9½ Weeks, Fatal Attraction, Jacob’s Ladder, Indecent Proposal) from a screenplay co-written by Zach Helm (Stranger Than Fiction) and Sam Levinson (Euphoria) based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel of the same name.

The movie stars Ben Affleck, Ana de Armas, Lil Rel Howery (Get Out), Tracy Letts (Lady Bird), Rachel Blanchard (Fargo), Dash Mihok (Ray Donovan), Jacob Elordi (The Kissing Booth), Kristen Connolly (House of Cards) and Jade Fernandez (Little).

Plot:
A married couple has fallen out of love. Their marriage is held together only by a precarious arrangement whereby, in order to avoid the messiness of divorce, Melinda (Ana de Armas) is allowed to take any number of lovers as long as she does not desert her family. But her husband Vic (Ben Affleck) becomes a suspect when her lovers start showing up dead. Is he the one with a problem or is something else going on?

Reviews:

“Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas are both very good and very capable actors but there’s something off with their performances from the very get go in Deep Water. Badly written characters can only be part of the reason because both are way off their best here, sleepwalking through proceedings while the film meanders to a truly unforgettable final few moments.” 2/5 Barton Reviews

“It’s a shame that a film that purports to be an erotic thriller is neither sexy nor tense, and at just under two hours it feels like a waste of talent – not only Affleck and de Armas’ but also of director Adrian Lyne, whose CV boasts far more sexually charged and dynamic stories than the tepid and shallow Deep Water.” Digital Spy

” …it takes about an hour before any part of the ‘murder mystery’ starts happening, and I can’t think of any couple that would behave like this. It’s like one of those early ’90s thrillers, which were trying to copy the heady days of the ’80s thrillers (like Lyne’s own Fatal Attraction) […] And with Deep Water, it feels like we’ve been stuck in the early ’90s for 30 years, so it feels very, very tired.” DVD Fever

“Lyne has always brought considerable depth to his work, and although the old-school plotting and focus on infidelity might seem a little quaint by today’s standards, Deep Water is a tense and involving thriller that adapts Highsmith’s intense brand of storytelling to the modern world with some style.” Film Authority

“Just occasionally, Lyne brings the right kind of flash, brash and trash to this fantastically silly and unbelievable story. But the film plods along in such a disconcerting way: there is no ratcheting up of tension, or plausible psychology […] is so bafflingly not addressed that you could suspect the whole thing is some Lynchian dream.” 2/5 The Guardian

“The erotic thriller is by no means a genre packed with feminist representation, but even Deep Water feels like a step backwards. Less femme fatale, more femme banal. This might all be more excusable if Deep Water had a memorable look. It doesn’t.” 2/5 HeyUGuys

“Slow-burning, Deep Water is an intriguing little thriller that is a throwback to the type of film Hollywood used to frequently turn out in the 1980s and 1990s. It’s a performance-driven potboiler that unveils its plot at its own pace. If you’re in the mood for an expertly produced retro domestic thriller then Deep Water is the movie for you.” Movies in Focus

“It’s flat and dull where it should be generating said subtlety and depth, lacking anything of the thrills and intrigue you’d expect from such an endeavour, and although the sub-genre lends itself to dark humour and trashier moments, this lands the wrong side on all counts. For their part, both Affleck and de Armas blossom under Lyne’s direction…” The People’s Movies

“Without the gravitas of a serious lead man, the two-hour film suffers from listless pacing. Its climax has been rewritten to enable greater equality between the Van Allens, blunting both its impact and Vic’s entire character motivation […] The dynamic between her and Affleck is fascinating: not ridiculous enough to be camp, but not far off.” B- The Playlist

“Compared to Lyne’s earlier work, Deep Water is ragged; it’s not got the same zeitgeist-tapping polish of Fatal Attraction. But there’s something enjoyably trashy about it that fans of erotic thrillers, and of Highsmith’s novels, will get a kick out of.” South China Morning Post

“This is a marriage of psychological warfare, and it is Vic and Melinda’s contrasting plans of attack that keep us invested, especially in the early going. De Armas embodies the cruelly uninhibited as well as Affleck brings the condescending and calculated, which is a major reason the major twist to Highsmith’s original ending works as well as it does.” 3/5 UK Film Review

Release date:
In the US, Deep Water will be released by 20th Century Fox via streaming on Hulu from March 18th 2022.  In the UK, the film can be viewed via Amazon Prime

Ending explained:
Visit Digital Spy

Cast and characters:
Ben Affleck … Vic Van Allen
Ana de Armas … Melinda Van Allen
Tracy Letts … Lionel
Rachel Blanchard … Maggie
Lil Rel Howery … Nash
Finn Wittrock … Dom
Jacob Elordi … Terry
Dash Mihok … Arthur
Kristen Connolly … Jackie
Jade Fernandez … Evelyn Cowan
Michael Braun … Jeff Peterson
Michael Scialabba … Kevin Washington
Devyn A. Tyler … Mary Washington
Brendan Miller … Joel Nash
Grace Jenkins … Trixie Van Allen
Jaren Mitchell … Rob Thomas
Goldie Lowe … Daughter
Shauna Rappold … Other Guest’s Wife
Martinez … David Ricigliani
Damon Lipari … Carlyle
Jeff Pope … Chief Nichols

Filming locations:
Urbania, Lower Garden District, New Orleans, Louisiana (Van Allen house)

Filming dates:
Began in November 2019.

Teaser trailer:

Trailer:

Clip:

MOVIES and MANIA rating:

MOVIES and MANIA provides previews, our own film reviews and ratings, plus links to other online reviews from a wide variety of trusted sources in one handy web location. This is a genuinely independent website and I rely solely on the minor income generated by internet ads to pay for web costs and cover yet more movies. Please support us by not blocking ads. Thank you. Oh and as an Amazon Associate, I earn a tiny amount from any qualifying purchases.