One disturbing thing about popular critical discourse around Verhoeven is that this discussion takes no serious account of the films Verhoeven made *before* he came to Hollywood. Anyone who has seen *Soldier of Orange*, *Spetters*, *The Fourth Man* and *Turkish Delight* will readily observe that he is a more complex, interesting and serious filmmaker than observers of his American films might guess. The brouhaha over *Basic Instinct* took place as if the same man had not directed *Spetters* and *The Fourth Man*, which are many things--graphically sexual, vulgar, hilarious--but not homophobic. Paul Verhoeven is one of those oddities with whom critics would rather not deal: a director of enormous talent who also has incredibly bad taste. We are accustomed to directors whose talent is proportional to a reasonable sense of etiquette. Verhoeven has much of the former and almost none of the latter. I for one find this refreshing. While I'm not sure if irony is an apt word for discussing the attitude a viewer could profitably take towards Verhoeven's work, it might be better than dismissal. Verhoeven affronts us, but I for one don't think he should be dismissed. Edward R. O'Neill UCLA ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.tcf.ua.edu/screensite