The Postman Always Rings Twice

Directed by Bob Rafelson, The Postman Always Rings Twice follows a drifter (Jack Nicholson’s Frank Chambers) as he embarks on an affair with a married woman (Jessica Lange’s Cora). Filmmaker Rafelson, armed with David Mamet’s screenplay, delivers a progressively lackluster endeavor that fares best within its promising, entertaining opening stretch, as the movie, which runs a palpably overlong 123 minutes, initially benefits from its moody atmosphere and first-class performances – with, in terms of the latter, both Nicholson and Lange offering up searing work that remains a highlight from start to finish. It’s clear, then, that The Postman Always Rings Twice‘s grip on the viewer is slowly-but-surely loosened by an episodic midsection riddled with far-from-engrossing subplots, including (and especially) a thoroughly oddball (and entirely disposable) digression focused on Frank’s short-lived relationship with a circus performer (Anjelica Huston’s Madge), while the abrupt and completely unsatisfying conclusion ultimately ensures that the whole thing concludes on about as underwhelming a note as one could envision – with the end result a distressingly misbegotten adaptation that feels like it should be so much better.

** out of ****