YMMV / In the Cut

• Best Known for the Fanservice:
  • This is the film where Meg Ryan went topless for the first time in her career and had several sex scenes with Mark Ruffalo. Most of the sex scenes are fully clothed, but the nudity is often talked about as if it were every scene.
  • It's also remembered somewhat for Mark Ruffalo's nude scenes too.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: John Graham claims to be under a lot of stress to explain his outbursts and seems determined to emotionally blackmail Frannie to depend on him, and make everything all about him. Given his Hair-Trigger Temper that alternates between hot and cold, he could have untreated bipolar disorder. Possibly with narcissistic personality disorder as well.
• Heartwarming Moments: The ending actually. Frannie kills the killer, and gets confirmation that Malloy actually loved her sincerely. She returns home, where he's still there. Rather than getting angry, he seems to have realised what she suspected, and put two and two together. She calmly rests her head on his chest and he comforts her.
• Relationship Writing Fumble: Although Frannie and Pauline are sisters, they kiss in an early scene and are very touchy-feely with each other. One could be forgiven for mistaking them for bisexual lovers in an open relationship.
• She Really Can Act: For those who felt Meg Ryan could only play her usual Romantic Comedy roles, she delivers a gripping against-type performance that some consider a career best. Even at the time, with all the controversy surrounding the subject matter, critics had nothing but praise for her work.
• One-Scene Wonder: John Graham only appears in three scenes, but Kevin Bacon leans into his Jerkass persona that makes him stand out.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: The film is best remembered for the controversy surrounding Meg Ryan's drastically against type role, and the infamous Parkinson interview that resulted.
• Presumed Flop: While the film made $23 million worldwide, which is close to double its $12 million budget, the general sense was that the movie was a flop due to its then mostly negative reviews. Since the film is an independent production, its classification as a Box Office Bomb is debatable.^note Although the rule-of-thumb says a film must make back twice its budget to be profitable, it is not a universal metric. Simply losing money does not qualify a film as a bomb, and a loss of $1 million for an independent film is not a huge fiasco.
• Tear Jerker: Frannie discovering that Pauline is murdered, and the subsequent drunken mess she turns into.
• Vindicated by History: The backlash towards Meg Ryan in such a sexual role led to the film getting the reputation as 'the one that killed Meg Ryan's career', and indeed Jane Campion's was set back several years too. In the years that followed, it's been re-evaluated for its strong feminist themes and homages to the works of Dario Argento and Mario Bava, as well as one of the best performances of Meg Ryan's career. Critic David Thompson in the book Moments That Made the Movies named it as one of the great films of the 21st century. Jane Campion's Career Resurrection in the next two decades only solidified the better reception towards In the Cut.
• The Woobie: Frannie is a lonely woman who seems anxious around everyone, has no friends but her half-sister, and seems to believe that simply imagining sex is better than experiencing it with the accompanying hurt. Meg Ryan is very good at looking like a kicked puppy when the scene calls for it.