THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 18, 1996 TAG: 9604180035
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
LOCK UP YOUR daughters. Mark Wahlberg, the rapper formerly known as Marky Mark, is loose and wants to be a movie star.
``Fear,'' the movie in which he attempts to play every teenage girl's dream and every father's nightmare, is a good deal more fun than fear, but a good time is a good time. The audience with whom I saw it hooted and laughed through most of the film, choosing up sides: for or against Wahlberg.
It was surprising the number who were rooting for the psychopathic character whose victims are so naive as to hardly be a challenge. One can only hope they were kidding as they cheered on Marky's sadistic, paranoiac shenanigans.
Reese Witherspoon plays the 16-year-old dummy who falls almost immediately for Wahlberg's old-fashioned seduction.
Her dad, played by the fine actor William Petersen, is on to Wahlberg, but it seems the females haven't a hint that he's really a stinker. All they notice is that his muscles ripple when he takes off his shirt.
Wahlberg, though, looks old enough to be Witherspoon's father, or at least her older uncle.
She begins to catch on that he's really the date from hell when he beats up a potential rival and then starts stalking her.
Things reach a fever pitch of foolishness when Wahlberg rounds up his gang and attacks the family home.
Wahlberg does have screen presence and, given a more subtle film, might even emerge as a star before he emerges as an actor.
``Fear'' is so bad that it's good. It provides no scares, but quite a few laughs. ILLUSTRATION: UNIVERSAL PICTURES
Reese Witherspoon and Mark Wahlberg in ``Fear.''
MOVIE REVIEW
``Fear''
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Reese Witherspoon, William Petersen, Amy
Brenneman
Director: James Foley
MPAA rating: R (language, violence, sexual situations)
Mal's rating: **
Locations: Cinemark, Greenbrier Mall in Chesapeake; Circle 4,
Main Gate in Norfolk; Columbus, Lynnhaven Mall, Surf-N-Sand in
Virginia Beach
by CNB