Themes: Out For Revenge, Miscarriage of Justice, Office Politics
Main Cast: Michael Douglas, Demi Moore, Donald Sutherland, Caroline Goodall, Dylan Baker
Release Year: 1994
Country: US
Run Time: 127 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Michael Douglas runs afoul of a treacherous supervisor in this film version of Michael Crichton's novel. Douglas plays Tom Sanders, an executive at DigiCom, a leading computer software firm. DigiCom is about to launch a new virtual reality-based data storage system that is expected to revolutionize the industry, and Bob Garvin (Donald Sutherland), the owner of the company, is in the midst of negotiating a merger that could bring $100 million into the firm. However, while Tom is expecting a promotion, he discovers the position has been given instead to a new hire, Meredith Johnson (Demi Moore), with whom Tom had an affair years ago, before he was married. After her first day of work, Meredith invites Tom up to her office and makes a concerted attempt to seduce him; while Tom doesn't fight off her advances with very much gusto at first, eventually he decides things have gone too far and leaves in a huff. The next morning, Meredith accuses Tom of sexual harassment, and he realizes this was merely a power ploy to get him out of DigiCom for good; Tom, determined to fight, files a counter-suit, which makes him no friends at the company, since rocking the boat too hard could very well scotch the merger. Dennis Miller also appears as one of Tom's wise-cracking co-workers. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
An excellent cast of solid supporting players and a notable roster of talent behind the scenes transforms a Michael Crichton novel with a questionable premise and some hackneyed plot developments into a sturdy, attractive thriller. While the basic story of the source material doesn't stand up to close scrutiny, director Barry Levinson and screenwriter Paul Attanasio have populated their tale with enough dazzling high-tech gadgetry, office intrigue, and thriller-style convolutions to distract viewers. It's a cinematic shell game to be sure, but it makes for an enjoyable romp of a film. Michael Douglas has become the go-to guy when a big-budget film needs a white-male cultural scapegoat, while Demi Moore shines as an aggressive, manipulative female executive, in marked contrast to her most recent role as a naïve wife in Indecent Proposal (1993). The leads are ably supported by trustworthy character actors such as Dylan Baker, Roma Maffia, Donald Sutherland, and Donal Logue in the service of a story that at times veers into the territory of delightful absurdity. It doesn't all make sense, but Disclosure is a guilty pleasure. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Roma Maffia - Catherine Alvarez; Dennis Miller - Marc Lewyn; Allan Rich - Ben Heller; Nicholas Sadler - Don Cherry; Rosemary Forsyth - Stephanie Kaplan; Suzie Plakson - Mary Anne Hunter; Jacqueline Kim - Cindy Chang; Joe Urla - John Conley Jr.; Pat Asanti - John Levin; Michael Chieffo - Stephen Chase; Wayne Duvall - Executive #1; Bernard Hocke - Security Guard; Jeff Joy - Stunts; Lynne Killmeyer - Business Woman; Michael Laskin - Arthur Kahn; Donal Logue - Chance Geer; Edward Power - John Conley Snr; Jack Shearer - Fred Price; Ralph Tabakin - Elevator Attendant; Nancy Yee - Cleaning Woman; Michael Runyard - Stunts; Marie Rowe - Mrs Ross; Farrah Forke - Adele Lewyn; Lynn Tufeld - Lewynn's Assistent; Kate Williamson - Barbara Murphy
Credit
Charles William Breen - Art Director, Richard Yanez-Toyon - Art Director, Patricia Churchill - Associate Producer, James Flamberg - Associate Producer, Ellen Chenoweth - Casting, Andrew Wald - Co-producer, Gloria Gresham - Costume Designer, Kate Davey - First Assistant Director, Barry Levinson - Director, Stu Linder - Editor, Peter Giuliano - Executive Producer, Michael Crichton - Executive Producer, Ennio Morricone - Composer (Music Score), Cheri Minns - Makeup, Neil Spisak - Production Designer, Tony Pierce-Roberts - Cinematographer, Barry Levinson - Producer, Garry Lewis - Set Designer, Joseph Hodges - Set Designer, Steve Galich - Special Effects, Eric Brevig - Special Effects, Gene S. Cantamessa - Sound/Sound Designer, Michael Crichton - Screenwriter, Paul Attanasio - Screenwriter, Michael Crichton - Book Author
The film is a combination mystery and thriller about office politics and intrigue in the computer industry in the mid 1990s. The main focus of the story, from which the film and book take their titles, is the issue of sexual harassment. The film invites viewers to critically examine topics such as the ease with which allegations of sexual harassment can destroy one's career and whether a double standard exists when such allegations are levied by men or women.
Tom Sanders (Michael Douglas), a Seattle software executive, learns that a promotion he'd been expecting has, instead, been given to Meredith Johnson (Demi Moore), a former girlfriend of his from long ago. Later that evening, Meredith calls Tom into her office, ostensibly to discuss the project he is working on. Once Tom arrives, Meredith aggressively tries to resume her romantic relationship with him. Tom resists (although with difficulty) as he is now a married family man.
The next day, Tom discovers that Meredith has filed sexual harassment charges against him. His colleagues refuse to believe his protestations of innocence and the company pressures him to accept reassignment to a new location. Tom does not want to do this as it would destroy both his career and his family. However, since no one believes in his innocence and Meredith is now his boss, he appears to have no choice but to accept reassignment or be fired.
Just as all seems hopeless, Tom receives an e-mail from someone identified only as "A Friend", directing him to a Seattle attorney (Roma Maffia) who specializes in sexual harassment cases where men are the victims. With the attorney's help, Tom counter sues, alleging that Meredith harassed him. After Tom successfully makes his case before a court mediator, the company backs down and gives him a large pay raise. As Tom is celebrating his apparent victory, however, he receives another e-mail from "A Friend" warning him that the affair is not over and that all is not what it seems.
Tom eventually realizes that Meredith and the company president (Donald Sutherland) are setting him up to take the fall for defects in the product that Tom is responsible for in order to cover up their involvement in changing the quality control specifications at the plant. They plan to pin the blame on him at a conference the next day announcing a merger with another firm at which Tom will be made to look incompetent, thereby giving them a reason to fire him. Tom cannot access the company computer to prove the existence of the plot because Meredith has locked him out of the system. He spends a tense and frantic night getting the information through a demonstration machine left in the hotel room of the executives of the merging company and from a colleague at the plant who owes him a favor. Armed with this information, he manages to turn the tables on Meredith at the meeting, expose her involvement and get her fired instead of him.
After Meredith leaves, the company president gives her job (the one Tom had originally expected to get) to the company's low-key Chief Financial Officer (Rosemary Forsyth). Tom then learns that the CFO was behind the "A Friend" e-mails. In the end, Tom is left in the same position he was at the beginning of the film, but only after having narrowly escaped losing both his career and his family. He is also left musing over the fact that three women (his wife, the attorney and his new boss, the former CFO) were responsible for saving him.
The movie based on Michael Crichton's novel of the same name, who sold the movie rights for $1 million before the novel was published. (Coincidentally, Michael Crichton used the pen name "Michael Douglas" in his younger days.) Milos Forman was originally attached to direct but left the film due to creative differences with Michael Crichton. After Milos Forman left the project, Barry Levinson and Alan J. Pakula were in contention to take the helm. Eventually, Barry Levinson took the role. Geena Davis was Michael Crichton's first choice for the female lead[clarification needed]. However, Annette Bening was opted for the female lead[clarification needed] until she became pregnant. Madeleine Stowe was then considered before Barry Levinson settled on Demi Moore. Michelle Pfeiffer was also considered for the lead role[clarification needed].
Michael Crichton wrote the character Mark Lewyn for the film specifically with Dennis Miller in mind and the character in the book was somewhat modified for the screenplay to fit Miller's personality.
Reception and Box Office Performance
The film was met with much criticism from critics, for example Roger Ebert who called it "basically a launch pad for sex scenes" and gave it only 2 stars out of a possible 4. On the other hand, Ian Nathan of Empire Magazine called it "[g]enuinely gripping," further stating that "Demi [Moore] makes an awesome femme fatale." It currently has a rating of 5.8/10 on IMDB and 59% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Although met with much criticism, the film was a soaring financial success, succeeding in recouping more than $80,000,000 in domestic ticket sales and an additional $131,000,000 in world wide ticket sales. And this against an approximate budget of $55,000,000. The film is considered to be one of director Barry Levinson's most successful films after his initial successes with Good Morning, Vietnam and Rain Man in 1987 and 1988 respectively. He is yet to make such a box office success again.
