Movie Review # 106 Mamba [Fair Game] 1988

Release: 1988
Director: Mario Orfini
Writer(s): Mario Orfini, Lidia Ravera
Cast: Trudie Styler, Gregg Henry, Bill Moseley


Ratings:
Rotten Tomatoes: 5% Audience 
IMDb: 4.5/10
Netflix: 2.2 Stars


Review:
I have a thing for movies that have two titles. That thing is I generally despise them greatly or just find them mildly annoying. Mamba (Fair Game) is just annoying. It is a over bloated mess of a movie that deserves mentioning with some of the dumbest horror movies of all time. Which does not say much for the movie and once you read this plot you will understand why.

"Gene, a clever but seriously deranged computer-game designer, has been left by his fiancée Eva. Unable to win her back, he decides to take revenge by locking Eva in her new apartment, inside which he has released a deadly mamba snake"


With a plot like that you just have to ask yourself how can they make an hour and twenty long movie out of this? I am just going to answer that. They didn't! As this movie falls into the pitfalls of low budget, bad writing and horrible directing. As the snake is everywhere and I mean everywhere as it beats the main lead to every place no matter where she left it. Which leads to some of the funniest moments in the movie as you have what I call slither cam and you see the cameraman running with the camera across the floor while shooting.


Others you have microphones that come in and out of frame. With the best one being in the forty-sixth minute of the movie. That had me stop and rewind three times. As I couldn't stop laughing. It is these type of mistakes that make up for how bad the script is. Even through all this crap there is one bright shining light and that is the acting of Trudie Styler. Who is probably most famous for being married to Sting and introducing Madonna to Guy Ritchie. As well as being the Godmother to Madonna's son Rocco.


Trudie's acting was enjoyable, fun and entertaining. As she was having fun and being a carefree artist which she is. So it was not a stretch for her at all. Once you look past her at the other two actors you pray for them to leave the screen as quick as possible. I say that with tongue in cheek as Bill Moseley is in the movie all of five minutes before being killed by Gene played by Gregg Henry.


Who is the biggest loaf of this film. The other two do their jobs and do them well. Gregg on the other hand is terrible as his brooding demeanor and over bearing persona soils everything that is being said. As he takes it to far and has no sense of making this character his own. Which Bill and Trudie both did. As each one took a poorly written character and had fun. Then I do have this say if I had the roll that was given to Gregg I would probably struggle as well.


As he is as blank as a piece of white paper and just as shallow as well. He is the only one of the three characters in the movie who has nothing of value. As he is just the villain who dies in the end under such scripted circumstances that you see it coming twenty minutes into the movie. As Trudie's character Eva say's to the camera in no exact words. That you can never lose and you always have to find a way to win.


It is that line that sets up the end of the movie. As the mamba fails to kill Eva and ultimately kills Gene. It is simple it is stupid and it is just plain boring. At the same time there are some out there that will find this movie entertaining, enjoyable and will fall for it. I am none of those. I found it as I have described just bland and boring. The moments of suspense are set stage pieces with no value and the snake is a plain Black Racer and not a mamba as they make you to believe. 


Hell the snake at the start of the movie is a third of the size of the snake that ends up in the house. Which makes it even funnier. That is if you paid attention through out. Sadly most of you won't as you are laughing to hard and how over the top stupid this movie is. Which I did on more than one occasion and I see this as a comedy of failures and not a suspense horror that it bills itself as.


My Rating 2.25 stars out of 5 


I apologize about the trailer it was the only one on Youtube.