We all like a steamy thriller every now and then, and lockdown has left many of us more than a little horny and needing to experience intimacy vicariously. One such offering, Fatale, has managed to find a place in Netflix‘s Top 10.
The plot sees sports agent Derrick (Michael Ealy) retaliate against the suspected infidelity of his wife Tracie (Damaris Lewis) by having a one night stand during a business trip to Las Vegas. When his house is broken into and the thief attempts to kill him, the investigating detective Valerie (Hilary Swank) is revealed as his anonymous hookup, whereupon her obsession leads to dangerous and increasingly deadly outcomes.
Unlike most adultery-driven stalker flicks, Fatale actually has something resembling a developing plot that goes beyond the rote nonsense typically wheeled out in such fare, inspiring a glimmer of optimism that the end result might be something satisfactory. Sadly, this is not the case, as it soon reveals itself to still be a litany of utterly preposterous garbage that requires its characters to act completely irrationally for any of its events to actually take place, while the dialogue makes you wonder if those involved have ever interacted with a functional human being.
A subplot involving Valerie attempting to regain custody of her daughter from her ex-husband and his new wife takes some time to have any relevance, and when it does it only serves to make events seem even more contrived, which up until that point were already straining credulity.
Fatale is certainly one of the better examples of its ilk, but in spite of this is not clever enough to be charming, not sexy enough to be alluring, not exciting enough to be engaging, and simply not enough fun to act as the guilty pleasure it purports to be.