History YMMV / TheLastSeduction

%%* EvilIsSexy: Linda Fiorentino. Hoooo boy.

* MagnificentBastard:
** Frank, to a degree. It's within the confines of his role as Bridget's attorney, but he still comes up with a number of ways for Bridget to walk away with all of the drug money Clay stole for them jointly, and gives her advice on divorcing him, and keep the money as a liquid asset to prevent Clay from claiming half of it when the divorce is final, actively plotting with Bridget against Clay. [[spoiler: In the original ending, Frank is even more of a bastard, as he sets himself up as Mike's defense attorney to get information from Mike on any loose ends she may have left behind that can save him. In that ending, he's the one that actually notifies Bridget about the Cahill name tag she left behind, so she can collect it and burn it. It ended up being scrapped for an ordinary public defender because it was felt it was a twist too far.]]
** Bridget Gregory is a highly intelligent, manipulative sociopath who convinces her husband Clay to sell pharmaceutical cocaine to drug dealers before skipping town with their ill-gotten gains. Bridget quickly starts a new life in a small town, repeatedly fending off the private investigators her husband sends after her, one by killing him off in a car crash after tricking him into taking off his seatbelt with the suggestion of a sexual liason, and the other by framing the man as a pedophile. Bridget seduces the well-meaning but naive Mike, then slowly convinces him to kill her husband after messing with his mind and digging up embarassing secrets from Mike's past. When Mike realizes that Bridget is trying to set him up, she kills Clay personally, wipes her prints from the murder weapon (Since Mike brought gloves) before taunting Mike to rape her, calling 911 unobserved, and implicating him as a home invader responsible for her own crimes and later disposing of any evidence that might have proved Mike's innocence.

* EvilIsSexy: Linda Fiorentino. Hoooo boy.

* IdiotBall: Both private eyes in the movie grab the ball and sprint for the goal line. Harlan is supposed to be an experienced New York PI, but he lets Bridget bait him into literally being caught with his pants down. Bert, the local PI who Clay hires to replace Harlan, ''knows'' the fate of his predecessor, but he still accepts a plate of cookies from Bridget. Given Bridget's personality, he's lucky the cookies were just a distraction, and not laced with arsenic.

* NightmareFuel:
** The whole ending of the film in general. [[spoiler: Being framed for crimes you did not commit, with your best option being life in prison and the worst option being the electric chair, while the actual perpetrator gets off scot-free is enough to put your stomach into knots after viewing the film.]]
** Mike's backstory in particular has some VERY unfortunate implications, regarding a specific sort of ParanoiaFuel: He hit it off with Trish, and thought he was all set for a happy life with a beautiful wife...only to find out on their ''wedding night'' that she's either a "trap", or a pre-operation trans woman. With the emotional underpinnings of the sequence (and the time in which the film was made), it's presumably indicated to be the former--a common "She is a HE!!!" trope. With the nightmarish camera and music of the sequence, one can only wonder how many guys watching this movie walked out of the theater wondering if they should "check" the women in their lives...let alone their fiancées. It certainly provides fuel for the notorious mematic "Are traps gay?" debate.

* MagnificentBastard: Frank, to a degree. It's within the confines of his role as Bridget's attorney, but he still comes up with a number of ways for Bridget to walk away with all of the drug money Clay stole for them jointly, and gives her advice on divorcing him, and keep the money as a liquid asset to prevent Clay from claiming half of it when the divorce is final, actively plotting with Bridget against Clay. [[spoiler: In the original ending, Frank is even more of a bastard, as he sets himself up as Mike's defense attorney to get information from Mike on any loose ends she may have left behind that can save him. In that ending, he's the one that actually notifies Bridget about the Cahill name tag she left behind, so she can collect it and burn it. It ended up being scrapped for an ordinary public defender because it was felt it was a twist too far.]]
* MagnificentBitch: Bridget Gregory is a highly intelligent, manipulative sociopath who convinces her husband Clay to sell pharmaceutical cocaine to drug dealers before skipping town with their ill-gotten gains. Bridget quickly starts a new life in a small town, repeatedly fending off the private investigators her husband sends after her, one by killing him off in a car crash after tricking him into taking off his seatbelt with the suggestion of a sexual liason, and the other by framing the man as a pedophile. Bridget seduces the well-meaning but naive Mike, then slowly convinces him to kill her husband after messing with his mind and digging up embarassing secrets from Mike's past. When Mike realizes that Bridget is trying to set him up, she kills Clay personally, wipes her prints from the murder weapon (Since Mike brought gloves) before taunting Mike to rape her, calling 911 unobserved, and implicating him as a home invader responsible for her own crimes and later disposing of any evidence that might have proved Mike's innocence.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Clay, to a degree.
* TheWoobie: [[spoiler: Oh, poor dumb Mike.]]

** Subverted with [[spoiler: Mike. It seems like he's going to cross it for Bridget and murder Clay according to her plan, but when the time comes to do it, he can't. It's even more subverted because he decides he can't kill Clay BEFORE he discovers that Bridget is married to him. He doesn't even have the knowledge he's being set up when he decides not to kill Clay. He simply does it because he can't stomach murdering the man. Clay gets the chance to show him why it was a good idea to spare him after Mike drop's Bridget's alias. It doesn't help him in the end, however.]]

* NightmareFuel: The whole ending of the film in general. [[spoiler: Being framed for crimes you did not commit, with your best option being life in prison and the worst option being the electric chair, while the actual perpetrator gets off scot-free is enough to put your stomach into knots after viewing the film.]]

*** It also, of course, leads to UnfortunateImplications in the modern context, regarding transphobia.

* MisaimedFandom: Ironically, it's actually been touted as a feminist film. Note all the film theorists and reviewers who seem to ''like'' that Bridget gets away with everything! Sure, she destroys a man's life just because he was reluctant to commit murder (not to mention, she kills a detective who's just doing his job)--but hey, at least she stuck it to "The Man".
** There are also reviewers who use this movie, of all others, to criticize modern day movies, especially those made by Hollywood.
** In Bridget's VERY minor defense, She makes it very clear in her first meeting with Mike at the bar that she wants nothing to do with him, and recognizes his "chivalrous" act to get her a drink is to ingratiate himself to her. He persists, and she agrees to a one-night stand, but again, she doesn't give him her name and beats feet as soon as its morning. When she decides to hide in Beston, and gets hired at Intertech, she's clearly shocked and bothered when she discovers Mike works there too, and makes it clear again that she wants nothing to do with him. Mike simply won't take no for an answer, and when she names him her "designated fuck," it's still not enough. While it doesn't excuse Bridget eventually setting him up to spend his life in prison for her husband's murder, A little of Mike's downfall is due to the fact that he keeps pushing to have a relationship with her, when she's made it clear multiple times she doesn't want one with him. His continued, dogged pursuit of her is what makes her eventually realize that because of his sappy love for her, that he'd make the perfect fall guy for her scheme. Mike also is using her in a way, as he attaches himself to her largely because he knows she's from the big city, and he wants to get out of Beston and thinks she's the one that can do it for him. In the end, he's right. It's just not at all the way he wanted to leave.

* HarsherInHindsight: When Mike grabs Bridget's rear as they enter the Intertech office, Bridget slaps him and makes a big show of claiming it was unwelcome advance in order to keep her and Mike's relationship a secret. In the film, Mike sheepishly goes to his office red-faced as the other employees in the lobby give him the look. In today's times, it's hard not to imagine Mike being fired on the spot for it. Especially since she's claimed to her supervisor at Intertech that she's an abused housewife trying to hide from her abusive husband.

* MagnificentBitch: Bridget Gregory is a highly intelligent, manipulative sociopath who convinces her husband Clay to sell pharmaceutical cocaine to drug dealers before skipping town with their ill-gotten gains. Bridget quickly starts a new life in a small town, repeatedly fending off the private investigators her husband sends after her, one by killing him off in a car crash after tricking him into taking off his seatbelt with the suggestion of a sexual liason, and the other by framing the man as a pedophile. Bridget seduces the well-meaning but naive Mike, then slowly convinces him to kill her husband after messing with his mind and digging up embarassing secrets from Mike's past. When Mike realizes that Bridget is trying to set him up, she kills Clay personally before taunting Mike to rape her, implicating him as a home invader responsible for her own crimes and later disposing of any evidence that might have proved Mike's innocence.

* NightmareFuel: The whole ending of the film in general. Being framed for crimes you did not commit, while the actual perpetrator gets off scot-free is enough to put your stomach into knots after viewing the film.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Clay, to a degree.

* RootingForTheEmpire: Lets face it. [[spoiler: A lot of people in the audience eventually wants Bridget to win, largely because of how effortlessly she runs rings around everyone else in the film, save for Frank, the only person she's ever openly honest with.]]

*** It also, of course, leads to UnfortunateImplications in the modern context, regarding transphobia.

* EvilIsSexy
** EvilIsCool: How some view the movie.