Pretty Thing (2025)
Pretty Thing Review: A Gender-Flipped Erotic Thriller That Misses the Heat
Pretty Thing arrives with a tantalizing premise: what if Fatal Attraction swapped the genders? Directed by Justin Kelly (I Am Michael, JT LeRoy) and written by actor-turned-screenwriter Jack Donnelly, this 2025 erotic thriller casts Alicia Silverstone as a high-powered pharmaceutical executive who picks up a younger man—only to find herself the target of his increasingly dangerous obsession. It’s a clever inversion of a classic formula, but unfortunately, the execution leaves much to be desired.
The numbers tell a sobering story. On Rotten Tomatoes, Pretty Thing holds a 47% critics score based on 19 reviews, with an audience score of just 30%. It’s a reception that places it firmly in “Rotten” territory, a disappointing outcome for a film that clearly aspires to the steamy, suspenseful heights of the erotic thrillers that dominated the 1980s and ’90s. Metacritic paints an even grimmer picture, with individual critic scores ranging from 16 to 50, averaging a “generally unfavorable” rating.
Critics have been largely unified in their disappointment, though not universally dismissive. Variety acknowledged that “those who’ve missed the steaminess of the peak ‘erotic thriller’ era may find some nostalgic pleasure in this slick if more modest enterprise,” praising Silverstone’s “expert performance” as a woman with a healthy sexual appetite whose needs are fulfilled on the professional plane. But the review ultimately concluded that “the suspense mechanics never develop much momentum and despite solid performances, the script lacks sufficient depth to work as a serious character drama,” resulting in a “forgettable” film with a “weak fade-out”.
RogerEbert.com was far harsher, calling it “a rather unappealing riff on erotic thrillers” and criticizing the “stilted conversations, murky cinematography” and uncomfortable handling of intimate partner violence. The review noted that watching Silverstone’s character stalked, harassed, and sexually humiliated “is an uncomfortable exercise that does not feel entertaining in the slightest”. The A.V. Club was even more brutal, awarding it a 16 and writing that “even when compared to the recent underwhelming crop of erotic thrillers, topped by the enjoyably escalating silliness of Deep Water, Pretty Thing is especially chaste, abstaining from both sexual titillation and the campy fallout that results from making a series of decisions driven solely by libido”.
What’s most frustrating is the potential. Silverstone delivers a committed, nuanced performance—she’s the film’s strongest asset, bringing intelligence and vulnerability to a woman who refuses to be defined by her relationships. Glusman, too, is “perfectly fine” in a role that ultimately leaves him too underwritten to be genuinely threatening. The film’s central problem is that it wants to be both a serious drama about obsession and a steamy genre exercise, but it succeeds at neither. It lacks the erotic charge that made its predecessors so memorable and the psychological depth that would elevate it above stock genre expectations. Pretty Thing is a film that wants to be provocative but ends up feeling merely uncomfortable—a missed opportunity that never quite finds its footing.
Pretty Thing Cast: Alicia Silverstone Leads a Talented Ensemble
The film assembles a solid cast of recognizable faces, led by a bona fide ’90s icon making a bold return to the thriller genre:
Alicia Silverstone delivers a career-highlight performance as Sophie, a forty-something partner at a pharmaceutical marketing firm who is content with her life and career until a chance encounter with a younger man upends everything. Silverstone brings intelligence, authority, and a surprising vulnerability to the role, creating a character who is both sympathetic and believable. Critics have praised her as the film’s “strongest asset,” with Variety noting she portrays “a woman with a healthy sexual appetite whose other needs are fulfilled on the professional plane, where she’s driven and authoritative”.
Karl Glusman (Civil War, The Bikeriders) co-stars as Elliot, a charismatic but emotionally unstable young man whose casual fling with Sophie escalates into a dangerous obsession. Glusman is described as “perfectly fine” in the role, though critics noted that the script leaves his character “too much of a naif to seem threatening”. Catherine Curtin (Stranger Things) plays Peggy, Elliot’s supportive but clingy invalid mother, adding another layer of complexity to his unstable home life. Tammy Blanchard, Britne Oldford, Esteban Benito, and Paul McCallion round out the supporting cast.
Pretty Thing Plot: A Steamy Affair Turns Into a Dangerous Obsession
The story begins at a high-end Manhattan hotel reception. Sophie (Alicia Silverstone), a successful pharmaceutical executive, locks eyes with Elliot (Karl Glusman), a handsome young catering waiter. The attraction is immediate and electric. After the party wraps, Elliot makes his way to her room, and what begins as a casual, passionate encounter quickly evolves into a whirlwind romance. Sophie impulsively invites Elliot to accompany her on a business trip to Paris, and for a brief, intoxicating moment, the two seem perfectly matched.
But the cracks begin to show almost immediately. Sophie, who is happily “married” to her career and has no interest in a relationship, grows bored with Elliot’s awkward, desperate energy and his inability to navigate her executive-class world. When she politely but firmly ends things via text, Elliot does not take rejection well. What follows is a chilling descent into obsession as Elliot refuses to accept that their fling is over, transforming from a charming young lover into a relentless stalker.
Sophie finds herself under siege. Elliot harasses her over the phone, shows up at her workplace, breaks into her home while she sleeps, and eventually commits a deeply humiliating act of revenge—spreading printed copies of Sophie modeling in lingerie just hours before a critical business meeting, threatening the career she has fought so hard to build. The film becomes a tense, uncomfortable battle of wills as Sophie fights back against a man who cannot let go. It’s a story that aims to subvert the traditional “woman as object of male desire” narrative and reclaim agency for its protagonist, exploring themes of power, obsession, and the terrifying reality of intimate partner violence. But as critics have noted, the execution often struggles to balance its serious subject matter with the genre thrills it clearly wants to deliver.
“Attraction proves problematic if not fatal.”
