The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992) * * 1/2

Directed by:  Curtis Hanson

Starring:  Rebecca DeMornay, Annabella Sciorra, Matt McCoy, Ernie Hudson, Julianne Moore

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle isn't the type of movie you watch for abject realism.   Questions like, "How did the villain manage to ingratiate herself so fast to the heroine, who in turn allows the villain to move in as a live-in nanny and unleash her vengeful plot on the unwitting family?" aren't expected to be asked.    But, I will ask anyway.    Claire Bartel (Sciorra) and her husband Mike (McCoy) are a typical American family with a young daughter and an infant.   They are slow studies, however.    They vaguely notice that since the arrival of Peyton Flanders (DeMornay) into their lives, people have been dying or meeting ignominious exits from their lives, such as the slow Solomon (Hudson), who assists Claire with her greenhouse.    But, they dismiss it as mere coincidence, even though Peyton may as well be wearing an "I'm the villain, dummy" t-shirt.

Why is Claire the object of Peyton's vengeance?   Because Peyton's husband, a gynecologist who sexually assaults his patients, including Claire (who blows the whistle on him), soon kills himself, leaving Peyton without a husband and more importantly without his income which keeps her in the lifestyle to which she has become accustomed.    Peyton isn't much alarmed at her husband's proclivity for assaulting women, just that the gravy train has stopped rolling.   This is a movie in which Peyton can assume a new identity and slither her way into Claire's life with some small talk at a local park.   Mike doesn't object.   In fact, he is relieved his wife is taking the child-rearing stuff off of her plate, when in reality Claire should be looking for more greenhouse help.    Claire's priorities aren't exactly in the right order, but what do I know?

Peyton manipulates things to get Solomon (who suspects something is amiss with Peyton right away) out of the picture and also Marlene (Moore), a chain-smoking family friend who was Mike's former girlfriend and a high-powered realtor who has a high-rise office overlooking Seattle.   Business is good for her, but even if she didn't meet her sad fate, the smoking would've decimated her lungs within five years anyhow.    This is one of Julianne Moore's first film roles, and she made quite an impression, although does she need a cigarette in her mouth every second she is onscreen?

DeMornay, who played Tom Cruise's prostitute girlfriend in Risky Business, is a villain we want to see get her comeuppance, and it happens in one of the more clunky endings I've seen in a movie like this.   Hudson, the fourth Ghostbuster, makes a loyal, sympathetic family friend who remains a watchful protector of the family that fired him...from a safe distance.    But, despite the absurdities of the plot, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle gets the job done for what it is.   Hanson, who would go on to make the superb L.A. Confidential (1997), understands the rules of this type of suspense film and keeps things moving.    If you watch it on TV one night, it isn't the worst use of ninety-plus minutes of your life.    Just don't ask any questions, or you will drive yourself mad.