You, Me, & The Bottle Makes 3

In The Business of Strangers, starring Stockard Channing, Julia Stiles and a bottle of scotch, Paula Murphy (Stiles) tells Julie Styron (Channing) that many pornos are actually directed by women, not men—the only real difference is less sex and more foreplay. Business, on the other hand, is a female dominated film directed by a man. As written by first-time writer/director Patrick Stettner, the film’s characters are dynamically portrayed by Channing and Stiles. But while the issues Stettner tackles certainly deserve to be explored, Business is ultimately too strange to be highly effective.

Business begins with Styron, a workaholic who doesn’t let hot flashes stop her from landing a client en route to a presentation. Under the impression that she is about to be fired, she takes her anger out on Murphy, the new audio/visual assistant who was late for her presentation. However, when Styron is promoted instead of being sacked, Styron apologizes to Murphy when they are stranded at the same airport hotel, and takes her happiness out on the girl instead. The rest of the movie follows the character development between the two women as they spar, flirt and take revenge upon a man who had previously wronged Murphy.

Channing’s Styron has spent her entire life subduing her femininity in order to climb the corporate ladder, sacrificing a marriage and the chance for a family to a hectic work schedule and briefcase full of Valium and Zoloft. Stiles’ Murphy, in contrast, exploits being female, teasing men in elevators, coming on to Styron and punishing men. The dynamic and growing relationship between the two causes Styron to question her life choices, but also causes Murphy to escalate her exploitations. The characters serve the story nicely, but Murphy is too extreme; audience members might find themselves simply feeling sorry for Styron for being in Murphy’s grasp rather than appreciating the intricacies of the film.

The stories of the two characters would provide an interesting expose of women’s roles in today’s society, but this study is unnecessarily complicated by the sexual tension between the two women. Stettner tackles a heavy subject in his debut and packages the topic nicely; the movie begins and ends in the airport, and consists mainly of one locale and three characters, focusing the film on the ideas behind the movie rather than on extraneous plotlines. However, in making the character interaction so complicated, this message is not sent out as clearly as the theme-focused movie could let it be.

Channing, Stiles and Fred Weller as Nick, a headhunter who Styron calls when she fears needing a new job, all enhance the movie with their acting. Channing draws the viewer in with a vivid performance that covers all emotions and states of mind and showcases her talent much more effectively than did her other recent movies, Where the Heart Is and Practical Magic. Stiles looks a little too young to play a college graduate (perhaps her repertoire of high-school roles plays a factor here) but manages to be both acerbic and provocative at the same time.

The Business of Strangers is not a fun movie; a few clever lines are humorous but the subject matter is a serious one and the overall projection for being female in today’s world is negative. Stettner aims simply to point this out, in all its forms, not to provide a solution to the problem. Except for the extremity of the character of Murphy and some of her frequently unbelievable actions, the movie is faithful to reality and knows its bounds, which is one of its strengths and keeps it from trying to achieve too much.

The movie’s strongest moment occurs when Murphy and Styron exact revenge upon Nick, a man Murphy claims previously raped her friend. Styron’s relatively friendless life in her quest to become CEO is a motif that has been used before, but is artfully drawn out in this movie. These two issues juxtaposed together provide influential insight into modern womanhood. However, this significance is muddled under lesbian innuendo that takes the viewer’s mind off of the topic, bringing the movie from the level of extremely impressive to extremely unfulfilling. If Stettner can learn to focus his message as well as he focuses his action, and continues to find such strong acting talent and to use film as a vehicle for illuminating society’s ills, we can expect the emergence of an significant Hollywood force. The Business of Strangers, like its director and writer, is not quite there yet, but Stettner’s next film could be.

The Business of Strangers

directed by

Patrick Stettner

starring

Stockard Channing

Julia Stiles

Fred Weller

ICF Films