Fatal Instinct

Fatal Instinct is a 1993 comedy that sends up the erotic thriller genre. Ned Ravine works two jobs that sit awkwardly together: as a police officer he arrests criminals, and as a lawyer he defends them in court. His marriage is just as tangled. His wife, Lana, is having an affair and wants him dead, and she and her lover scheme to make it look like an accident so they can claim his life insurance. Into this mess steps a mysterious woman named Lola Cain, along with a secretary, Laura, and a criminal named Max Shady who holds a grudge against Ned. The film parodies thrillers in which a man is pulled between dangerous women, with the plot hinging on whether Ned will survive his own household.

Carl Reiner directed, working from a screenplay by Pierce Gardner and David O'Malley; Gardner produced alongside Katie Jacobs. It was Reiner's ninth film as director, arriving between Sibling Rivalry and That Old Feeling, and it belongs to the run of broad comedies he made from the late 1970s onward. Armand Assante leads as Ned, with Sherilyn Fenn, Kate Nelligan, Sean Young, Christopher McDonald and James Remar among the 36 credited cast members. Made for about 10 million USD by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, it took roughly 8 million USD worldwide, falling short of its budget. On IMDb it holds 5.8/10 from around 8,900 votes, and on TMDB 5.5/10 from about 176 votes.