I have not yet seen Basic Instinct 2, but I already know that Sharon Stone is the only reason why I should even bother to. She is one the last few great movie stars; no matter what people say, no matter how out there she may appear, Stone's hot in every sense of the word.(That, and word on the street is the movie’s a lemon.)
Sure, it can be argued that Stone’s sole big hit, 1992’s original Basic Instinct, is her only claim to fame, but that would be terribly myopic.
Stone’s turn as Catherine Tramell was a memorable breakthrough (one, I would imagine, quite difficult to follow up), but she has continued to bask in the glory of her Sharon Stone-ness ever since.
Her next choices proved rather eclectic, gambits that sometimes paid off (her Academy Award-nominate performance in Casino, The Muse) and oftentimes didn’t (Sliver, The Quick and the Dead, Catwoman).
Meanwhile, there she was making heads turn on many a red carpet (who could forget her inventive Gap-and-Valentino Oscar look at the 1996 Oscars, or the time she wore her husband’s shirt paired with Vera Wang to the same event a few years later).
And there she’s been passionately raising money for AIDS research and advocating gay rights. No one understands the Art of Being Sharon Stone better than Stone herself, and it takes talent to stay in the spotlight in the way she has considering how much she’s been dismissed (for instance, she became part of a hilarious Margaret Cho joke once).
Today, Stone is on a new and exciting path toward finally proving us all cynical. Last year, she appeared in Broken Flowers, in a role that earned her kind reviews from critics and the few who saw the movie.
This year, aside from Basic Instinct 2, she’s readying to open Alpha Dog and Bobby, two highly awaited ensemble indies.
Going back to Basic Instinct 2, though, a lot has been done over the fact that Stone is reprising her star-making role as the sexually charged Tramell, especially over the nudity that the movie required. Many have, in fact, said that Stone should “act her age” (she turned 48 March 10).
Talk about ageism…and sexism!
Stone's hot, and if she’s shown us anything over the years it is that she’s game.
Why wouldn’t she take it all off for a role – after all, she can! When I think of her I think of sex. I certainly wouldn’t expect her to seduce her way out of trouble in a cute cardigan; Tramell (and Stone to a certain extent) is a sexual being – hello!
Oh, but it’s not appropriate for a woman her age to show so much skin, to be sexual.
Cry me a river and eat my shorts! I think it is way more appropriate for her to do it than it is for any of the pop “stars” that have helped strip the luster off the term “star."
As long as she’s comfortable – and let’s face it, looks as hot as she does – and in control (I’m sure no one forced her to take her clothes off, which is more than the aforementioned starlets can say…and probably makes men a bit nervous), then Stone can do whatever she wants.
And for that, if nothing else, I will try and go see Basic Instinct 2.
Photo: Columbia Pictures.
