screenplay by joe eszterhas . based on a novel by ira levin . directed by philip noyce . starring sharon stone , william baldwin , tom berenger , martin landau . unrated version ( contains nudity , violence , and profanity ) 108 mins . synopsis : carly , a divorced , unhappy , 35-year-old book editor who must work with intensely annoying , sex-starved judy , moves into a dream apartment where she meets an elderly , lonely professor and a has-been novelist who likes to scare jogging women in central park . carly then begins an affair with a young technogeek while a bunch of people are murdered in the apartment building and someone watches it all with video cameras . comments : three stars may be giving sliver a little more credit than it deserves . it's a big-budget turkey slammed by many critics when it was first released , i won't deny . despite its many faults , however , sliver does warrant a second look . how do i come to that conclusion ? though it is sometimes compared to rear window ( and i do see the resemblance ) , sliver's plot still strikes me as unique . in fact , the interesting plot makes one want the movie to be better than it really is . i have never read a novel by ira levin ( who wrote the book from which this film is based ) , but levin's work has provided the basis for a number of classic science fiction and horror movies over the years , most notably rosemary's baby and the stepford wives and its inevitable sequels . sliver deals with a dark subject , voyeurism , and the chilling possibilities open to a voyeur with developing technologies . allow me to suggest , for a moment , something which i rarely see suggested about sliver . yes , it is obviously an erotic thriller ( sharon stone strips naked frequently and makes out with william baldwin while a murderer runs around cancelling out his victims ) , but it is also a science fiction film . good science fiction often takes a part ( a sliver , if you'll accept a bad pun ) of modern day society and exaggerates it . in sliver , the apartment's owner secretly installs video cameras in every room of the building for the express purpose of spying on his tenants . sitting in an enclosed room , he watches over these people as if he were god . two walls of television sets , a giant tv in the center , a computer console , and a remote control make up the majority of his equipment , which apparently set him back 6 million dollars . he can zoom in and out on everyone , and record anything which goes on . this massive invasion of privacy is frightening when thought about ( imagine every moment in every day of your life being secretly filmed ) , and it is here where a major motif of science fiction resides : the dangers of emerging technologies put to unethical use . the novelty of the storyline , however , does not excuse joe eszterhas's weak screenplay . sliver is riddled with poor dialogue . granted , poor dialogue can sometimes be unintentionally funny , but in sliver's case , eszterhas tries to be clever and funny intentionally . the lines , therefore , only end up receiving groans from the audience . carly and another tenant discuss moving in an early scene , for example , and the tenant says moving is " worse than anal intercourse . " they share a chuckle . the audience doesn't . or , how about this for awful ? judy , the most annoying coworker to ever stumble into a movie ( get down on your knees and * pray * you never have to work with someone like judy ) , suggests " pearl jam [is] some sort of oriental sex thing . " ugh ! another criticism of sliver is that it moves too slowly during the first half . to be honest , i'm not sure if the screenwriter or the director is at fault , or if the reason lies in the fact that i'm reviewing the unrated version over the r-rated theatrical version ( from my estimate , though , only about a minute was added to the unrated version ) . carly's introductions to the main characters feel contrived , and her " steamy " scenes both with zeke hawkins ( baldwin ) and without are drawn out much longer than they need to be . for an erotic thriller , sliver possesses a very talented and experienced cast of actors . sharon stone . . . well , she's sharon stone , and she delivers what you'd expect to see after her career-making performance in basic instinct . william baldwin looks like a geeky freak , which is good considering the sleazy character he plays , and he turns in a goofy but enjoyable performance . veteran actors tom berenger and martin landau seem to make the best out of their characters ( they really aren't offered much thanks to the script ) . i cannot conclude this review without mentioning the music . i don't normally have much to say about a film's score or songs , but sliver effectively uses a number of dance standards during several key sequences . most notably , enigma's " carly's loneliness " and ub40's " can't help falling in love " appear a number of times and serve as fitting themes for carly and zeke respectively . sliver certainly has its faults : a slow first half , bad dialogue , and , at times , annoying characters ( judy , for instance ) . however , a strong concept , a mostly solid cast , and some well-chosen music almost saves it from being a turkey and at least makes the film watchable . the r-rated version may flow a little quicker than the unrated version reviewed here ( i saw the r-rated version in the theater when it first came out , so it's been way too long for me to confidently compare the two ) . sliver also has one of the more memorable endings to a thriller that i've ever seen , which is a definate plus because i usually find the conclusions to thrillers cliched and disappointing . some people i know who have seen this turkey hate it , but i really don't think it's all * that * bad . i'd give it a passing recommendation , but keep in mind that it's certainly not family viewing . 
