Let me lodge a dissent from all the _Crying Game_ praise. IMHO, it is not that unusual a movie. I think it is a fine film, but fairly standard. The performances are all first rate; each Oscar nomination was richly deserved. But it is a fairly standard thriller with an unusual character, not an unusual thriller. The famed, secret "plot twist" is not a plot twist at all: indeed, the film-maker (whose name unfortunately escapes me at this moment) seems to go out of his way NOT to explore the possible effects that such a revelation might have on the plot per se. What is unusual is the hype, and I can't believe that, in this message, I am keeping the secret. There was a group of people upset at the content of _Basic Instincts_ that called itself after the Sharon Stone character, as in "<that character's name> Did It>; I honestly feel manipulated by the studio in the case of _The Crying Game_ and wish I had the balls to start a similarly named group to reveal that film's big secret. What annoyed me about both the secret and the film is that a subject and a character situation which could have been explored to very interesting effect is left largely unexplored by the movie. Indeed, the secret itself is so important to keep since the moment of shock (for those of us who hadn't already figured it out . . .) to male audience members is about the closest thing the film comes to actually dealing with the issue. Just ask yourself, if you've seen the movie, to characterize Fergus' feelings about/towards the Jaye Davidson character at the film's end. I think the film avoids giving you any sense of what those feelings are simply because any exploration of them (even one with ambivalent results) would be a risk that the film-maker was simply not willing to take. Incidentally, as someone more or less suggested in an earlier posting, I think Jaye Davidson (do I have that last name right) is the REAL loser in all of the hype. A great, Oscar worthy performance that has to be kept secret. I hope he's getting a cut of the royalties!! -- Ben Alpers Princeton University