The Big Picture
Alex’s influence on Michael in
Bad Influence
leads to a dangerous spiral of manipulation and crime in L.A.
Rob Lowe and James Spader shine in darker roles, showing the brutal and chilling consequences of Alex’s actions.
Bad Influence
was a pivotal film in launching the next phase of both Lowe and Spader’s prolific acting careers.
By the time 1990 rolled around, the so-called “Brat Pack” and its membership were in a state of flux. Andrew McCarthy’s new documentary Brats, available on Hulu, tells their story. Gone were the days of teenage coming-of-age romances written and directed by John Hughes, like Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, and The Breakfast Club. The Brat Packers had outgrown movies like 1985’s St. Elmo’s Fire, and members such as Rob Lowe and James Spader were looking to move on to more mature and fully formed characters. Spader had already broken away from the safety of the Brat Pack incubator with a terrific turn in 1989’s provocative Sex, Lies, and Videotape and was looking to continue to move away from the ’80s phenomenon. Lowe, on the other hand, was floundering a bit, trying to navigate his way from the Brat Pack heartthrob into more serious leading roles, coming off flops like Masquerade and Illegally Yours. So, when the two came together to star in Curtis Hanson’s stylish noir thriller Bad Influence to kick off the ’90s, it was a heel turn for both — but more so for Lowe, who breaks very bad and delivers one of his most underrated performances to date.
Bad Influence (1990)
Release Date March 9, 1990
Director Curtis Hanson
Cast James Spader , Rob Lowe , Lisa Zane , marcia cross , Rosalyn Landor , Kathleen Wilhoite , Tony Maggio , Palmer Lee Todd
Runtime 99 Minutes
Writers David Koepp
What Is ‘Bad Influence’ About?
Michael Boll (Spader) is a regular yuppie with a nice 9-to-5 market analysis job but is too busy and insecure for a social life. He’s satisfied living an upper-middle-class life in Los Angeles and caring for his eccentric, oddball brother Pismo (Christian Clemenson). Together, they are a tandem ripe for an outside influence to barge into their lives and turn everything upside down. That unstoppable force arrives in the form of the suave Alex (Lowe), who is as charming and charismatic as they come. Alex worms his way into Michael’s life, and the two become fast friends. Alex takes his protégé under his wing and introduces him to the lurid and seedy L.A. nightlife. Slowly, Alex’s cool and sophisticated facade is worn away, exposing his sociopathic nature that will threaten Michael and Pismo’s lives.
Alex’s ‘Bad Influence’ Completely Unravels Michael’s Stable Life
Like many sociopaths, Alex initially appears very ordinary if not a little outgoing. He seems like the kind of guy you would want to be friends with. He has the courage that Michael lacks and introduces him to some of the carnal and hedonistic pleasures that Michael had been too timid, socially awkward, or busy to experience himself. It starts innocently enough with a night out clubbing and dabbling in booze and light drugs, but as Alex begins to wrap Michael up in his web more and more, the sinister side of the enigmatic drifter begins to emerge. After arranging for Michael to meet with his friend Claire (Lisa Zane) for a roll in the hay, he videotapes them and shows it to Michael’s prim and proper fiancée Ruth (Desperate Housewives’ Marcia Cross) and her parents during a swank cocktail party at their palatial house. Alex delights in Michael’s suffering, and the bad behavior only worsens. When Alex forces a drunk and drugged Michael to partake in an armed robbery of a convenience store, it is evident that not only is Alex not a friend but a psychopathic miscreant. Lowe dazzles in a truly dark and villainous role that allows him to show a facet of his repertoire that we hadn’t seen in his brat-pack days.
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Curtis Hanson Allowed Rob Lowe and James Spader to Shine in Darker Fare
Image Via Triumph Releasing Corporation
Lowe’s Alex shows versatility and an uncanny ability to compartmentalize his emotions from one scene to the next. Playing a sociopathic serial killer is most Hollywood actors’ dream role, and Lowe has a unique take on what it would be like if the best-looking guy in the room had an insatiable need to inflict pain on others. He can be the most likable guy in one scene and turn around and be authentically chilling in the next. Some scenes toward the end of Bad Influence are downright scary, and Lowe’s believability as the diabolical Alex brings these haunting scenes to life, complete with both jumpscares and an existential sense of impending dread and doom. By the end of the film, the viewers have had about all they can take from the deliciously murderous and twisted Alex and want nothing more than for Michael and Pismo to kill him out on a Pacific Ocean pier. And though the star wouldn’t necessarily capitalize on his talent to play the macabre villain later in his career, audiences were aware that he had that dynamic quality in his bag.
Neither Lowe nor Spader had any experience with the noirish tone that director Curtis Hanson establishes in Bad Influence. Hanson has extensive experience with dark mysteries going back to his raw directorial debut in 1972, Sweet Kill. He has also delivered stylish neo-noir films like The Bedroom Window, The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, and his tour de force 1997 Academy Award-winning L.A. Confidential. That’s 25 years of wrapping audiences around his finger within the genre. And with Bad Influence, he sets a crisp and morbidly smothering tone that never lets the viewer come up for breath. Lowe and Spader are outstanding at playing off each other and that’s largely due to Hanson giving his young and relatively inexperienced leads the platform to take the audience on an innocent journey that turns deadly and scary.
‘Bad Influence’ Ultimately Propelled Lowe and Spader Into Prolific Careers
Bad Influence is a keystone in the careers of both Lowe and Spader. It launched a different phase of their respective careers. Gone was the dangly earring, fingerless gloves, and saxophone of Brat Packer Lowe in St. Elmo’s Fire. Lowe would go on to show an even greater penchant for comedic acting in movies like Wayne’s World, two Austin Powers chapters, and eventually in television’s Parks and Recreation. As for James Spader, we were done with the lifted collar, Ray Ban sunglasses, and traipsing around in an open robe at his party in Pretty in Pink. He would also show his multifaceted chops opposite Susan Sarandon in the steamy White Palace, a mild-mannered scientist in Stargate, and, like Lowe, would have a long and memorable run on a TV show, The Blacklist. But if you have two hours to watch an underrated movie that the two star in together, give Bad Influence a retro look to see the early maturation of both performers.
Bad Influence is available to stream on MGM+
WATCH ON MGM+