Disclosure (1994 Film)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Disclosure'' is a 1994 American
erotic thriller The erotic thriller is a film subgenre defined as a thriller with a thematic basis in illicit romance or sexual fantasy. Though exact definitions of the erotic thriller can vary, it is generally agreed "bodily danger and pleasure must remain i ...
film directed by
Barry Levinson Barry Lee Levinson (born April 6, 1942) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Levinson won the Academy Award for Best Director for '' Rain Man'' (1988). His other best-known works are ''Diner'' (1982), '' The Natural'' (1984 ...
, starring
Michael Douglas Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and film producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the ...
and
Demi Moore Demi Gene Moore ( ; née Guynes; born November 11, 1962) is an American actress. After rising to prominence in the early 1980s, she became the world's highest-paid actress by 1995. List of awards and nominations received by Demi Moore, Her acc ...
. It is based on the novel by
Michael Crichton John Michael Crichton (; October 23, 1942 – November 4, 2008) was an American author, screenwriter and filmmaker. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and over a dozen have been adapted into films. His literary works heavil ...
, released the same year. The cast includes
Donald Sutherland Donald McNichol Sutherland (17 July 1935 – 20 June 2024) was a Canadian actor. With a career spanning six decades, he received List of awards and nominations received by Donald Sutherland, numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award ...
,
Caroline Goodall Caroline Goodall Pecorini (born 13 November 1959) is an English–Australian actress, screenwriter and producer. Awards and nominations include Best Actress nominations AFI Awards for her roles in the 1989 miniseries '' Cassidy'' and the 199 ...
and
Dennis Miller Dennis Michael Miller (born November 3, 1953) is an American political commentator, stand-up comedian, talk show host, writer, actor and former sportscaster. Miller was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' fro ...
. Douglas plays a CEO whose ex-girlfriend (Moore), an executive, files a
sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment based on the sex or gender of a victim. It can involve offensive sexist or sexual behavior, verbal or physical actions, up to bribery, coercion, and assault. Harassment may be explicit or implicit, wit ...
complaint after she fails to seduce him. ''Disclosure'' received mixed reviews and grossed $214 million against its $50 million budget.


Plot

Bob Garvin, the founder and CEO of the technology computer DigiCom, is happily married and plans to retire following a
merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...
. The production line manager, Tom Sanders, expects to be promoted to head of the CD-ROM division. Instead, Meredith Johnson, Tom's ex-girlfriend, is brought on to handle the merger, as Garvin wanted to " break the glass ceiling". After calling Tom to her office to discuss a manufacturing problem with a new line of CD-ROM drives, Meredith seduces him. He allows her to perform
oral sex Oral sex, sometimes referred to as oral intercourse, is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a person by another person using the mouth (including the lips, tongue, or teeth). Cunnilingus is oral sex performed on the vu ...
but rebuffs her attempts for intercourse. As Tom leaves, Meredith threatens him. Tom discovers that Meredith has filed a
sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment based on the sex or gender of a victim. It can involve offensive sexist or sexual behavior, verbal or physical actions, up to bribery, coercion, and assault. Harassment may be explicit or implicit, wit ...
complaint against him with the help of the legal counsel Phillip Blackburn. To save the merger from a scandal, causing Garvin to lose $100 million if the deal falls through, DigiCom officials demand that Tom accept reassignment to Texas. If Tom accepts, he will lose his
stock options In finance, an option is a contract which conveys to its owner, the ''holder'', the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell a specific quantity of an underlying asset or instrument at a specified strike price on or before a specified dat ...
, his career will be ruined, and he will be left jobless when the other location is sold following the merger. Tom receives an anonymous e-mail from "A Friend" directing him to Catherine Alvarez, an attorney specializing in sexual harassment cases. Tom decides to sue DigiCom, alleging Meredith harassed him, which causes animosity with his wife and colleagues. At the initial mediation, a tearful Meredith lies and blames Tom. Garvin, believing the merger will fail without her, proposes Tom drop the lawsuit in exchange for keeping his position. Tom realizes he misdialed a number on his cell phone during the encounter with Meredith, recording the entire event on a colleague's voicemail. Tom rejects Garvin's proposal and plays the recording at the next meeting, discrediting Meredith. Meredith defends her behavior, saying that Tom's protests in the recording were expressions of a desire to be dominated. DigiCom agrees to a settlement calling for Meredith to be removed after the merger. As Tom celebrates, he receives another e-mail from "A Friend" warning him that all is not what it seems. Tom overhears Blackburn telling Meredith that although they lost the sexual harassment suit, they will make Tom look incompetent at the next morning's merger conference since Tom is unaware of the cause of the CD-ROM problems. Since the production line in Malaysia is Tom's responsibility, he can be fired for cause. Accessing the company database for clues, Tom finds his access privileges revoked. Using a
virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...
device with access to the company database, he accesses DigiCom's files but finds that Meredith is already deleting them. Tom's Malaysian colleague faxes him copies of incriminating memos and videos. They show that Meredith, and one of the heads of operations in Malaysia, changed Tom's production specifications to gain the Malaysian government's favor and cut costs to make DigiCom appear more profitable to complete the merger. These changes caused problems with the CD-ROM line. To save her career, Meredith, with Blackburn's support, staged the sexual encounter with Tom to falsely accuse him of sexual harassment, forcing him out of DigiCom and covering for her mistakes. When Tom makes his presentation at the conference, Meredith brings up the production problems, saying they were his responsibility. Tom states that she made the changes that led to the problems. When she denies having even been to the plant, Tom plays Malaysian news footage of her visiting the production line and Garvin fires her. While cleaning out her office, Meredith reveals to Tom that she has become disillusioned with Garvin following his unexpected turn against her, and refuses to accept accountability for her mistakes. Garvin announces the merger's completion and names Stephanie Kaplan to head up the Seattle operation, a decision Tom supports. Tom asks Stephanie's son, Spencer, a University of Washington student, if he knows "A Friend". Spencer confirms he is Professor Arthur Friend's research assistant at the university. Tom realizes that Spencer had access to Friend's email account, enabling Stephanie to warn Tom as "A Friend". He happily resumes his position as head of manufacturing.


Cast

*
Michael Douglas Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and film producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the ...
as Tom Sanders *
Demi Moore Demi Gene Moore ( ; née Guynes; born November 11, 1962) is an American actress. After rising to prominence in the early 1980s, she became the world's highest-paid actress by 1995. List of awards and nominations received by Demi Moore, Her acc ...
as Meredith Johnson *
Donald Sutherland Donald McNichol Sutherland (17 July 1935 – 20 June 2024) was a Canadian actor. With a career spanning six decades, he received List of awards and nominations received by Donald Sutherland, numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award ...
as Bob Garvin *
Caroline Goodall Caroline Goodall Pecorini (born 13 November 1959) is an English–Australian actress, screenwriter and producer. Awards and nominations include Best Actress nominations AFI Awards for her roles in the 1989 miniseries '' Cassidy'' and the 199 ...
as Susan Sanders *
Dennis Miller Dennis Michael Miller (born November 3, 1953) is an American political commentator, stand-up comedian, talk show host, writer, actor and former sportscaster. Miller was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' fro ...
as Mark Lewyn *
Roma Maffia Roma Maffia (born May 31, 1958)Editors of Chase's (2021). Chase's Calendar of Events 2022: The Ultimate Go-to Guide for Special Days, Weeks and Months'. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 300. . is an American actress. Best known for Grac ...
as Catherine Alvarez *
Dylan Baker Dylan Baker (born October 7, 1959) is an American actor. He gained recognition for his roles in films such as '' Planes, Trains and Automobiles'' (1987), ''Happiness'' (1998), '' Thirteen Days'' (2000), '' Road to Perdition'' (2002), ''Spider-Man ...
as Philip Blackburn *
Rosemary Forsyth Rosemary Forsyth (born July 6, 1943) is a Canadian-born American actress. She made her big screen debut in the 1965 Western film ''Shenandoah (film), Shenandoah'', for which she received Golden Globe Awards, Golden Globe Award nomination for Go ...
as Stephanie Kaplan *
Suzie Plakson Suzie Plakson is an American actress. Career Plakson began her career on the stage, and played four characters opposite Anthony Newley in the national revival tour of '' Stop the World, I Want to Get Off''. She also played Marquise Theresa Du ...
as Mary Anne Hunter *
Nicholas Sadler Nicholas Sadler (born 1967) is an American actor. Early life and career Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he was raised in Apple Valley, Minnesota, where he attended Apple Valley High School. He was accepted into the Juilliard School's Drama Depar ...
as Don Cherry *
Jacqueline Kim Jacqueline Joan Kim is an American writer, actress, filmmaker, and composer. She was nominated for a FIND Independent Spirit award for Best Supporting Actress in the film '' Charlotte Sometimes''. Early life Kim was born in March 31, 1970, i ...
as Cindy Chang *
Kate Williamson Robina Jane Sparks, also known as Kate Williamson (September 19, 1931 – December 6, 2013) was an American actress, whose career spanned nearly three decades. Biography Williamson was born as Robina Jane Sparks in 1931, the daughter of actress/ ...
as Judge Barbara Murphy *
Donal Logue Donal Francis Logue (born February 27, 1966) is a Canadian-American film and television actor. He played the starring role of Sean Finnerty on the sitcom '' Grounded for Life'' (2001–2005), and Detective Harvey Bullock on the DC Comics adapta ...
as Chance Geer *
Farrah Forke Farrah Rachael Forke (January 12, 1968 – February 25, 2022) was an American actress best known for her roles as Alex Lambert on the NBC sitcom '' Wings'' and Mayson Drake on '' Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman''. She also voice ...
as Adele Lewyn *
Allan Rich Benjamin Norman Schultz (February 8, 1926 – August 22, 2020), known professionally as Allan Rich, was an American character actor. Early live and career Rich was born to a Jewish family in Astoria, Queens, and his family moved to the Bronx whe ...
as Ben Heller * David Drew Gallagher as Spencer Kaplan * Trevor Einhorn as Matt Sanders


Production

Michael Crichton John Michael Crichton (; October 23, 1942 – November 4, 2008) was an American author, screenwriter and filmmaker. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and over a dozen have been adapted into films. His literary works heavil ...
sold the movie rights for $1 million before the novel was published.
Miloš Forman Jan Tomáš "Miloš" Forman (; ; 18 February 1932 – 13 April 2018) was a Czech Americans, Czech-American film film director, director, screenwriter, actor, and professor who rose to fame in his native Czechoslovakia before emigrating to the Uni ...
was originally attached to direct but left due to creative differences with Crichton.
Barry Levinson Barry Lee Levinson (born April 6, 1942) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Levinson won the Academy Award for Best Director for '' Rain Man'' (1988). His other best-known works are ''Diner'' (1982), '' The Natural'' (1984 ...
and
Alan J. Pakula Alan Jay Pakula (; April 7, 1928 – November 19, 1998) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Associated with the New Hollywood movement, his best-known works include his critically acclaimed "paranoia trilogy": the neo-noir m ...
were in contention to take the helm and Levinson was hired.
Annette Bening Annette Carol Bening (born May 29, 1958) is an American actress. With a career spanning over four decades, she is known for List of Annette Bening performances, her versatile work across screen and stage. Bening has received List of awards an ...
was originally set to play Meredith until she became pregnant and soon dropped out.
Geena Davis Virginia Elizabeth "Geena" Davis (born January 21, 1956) is an American actor. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Davis made her acting debut in the satirical romantic comedy ''Toots ...
and
Michelle Pfeiffer Michelle Marie Pfeiffer ( ; born April 29, 1958) is an American actress. She was one of the most bankable stars in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood during the 1980s and 1990s, and her List of Michelle Pfeiffer performances, performances ...
were then considered before Levinson decided to cast
Demi Moore Demi Gene Moore ( ; née Guynes; born November 11, 1962) is an American actress. After rising to prominence in the early 1980s, she became the world's highest-paid actress by 1995. List of awards and nominations received by Demi Moore, Her acc ...
. Crichton wrote the character Mark Lewyn for the film specifically with
Dennis Miller Dennis Michael Miller (born November 3, 1953) is an American political commentator, stand-up comedian, talk show host, writer, actor and former sportscaster. Miller was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' fro ...
in mind. The character from the book was somewhat modified for the screenplay to fit Miller's personality. The visual effects and animation for the film, including in particular the virtual reality corridor sequence were all created and designed by the visual effects technicians at
Industrial Light & Magic Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American Film, motion picture visual effects, computer animation and stereo conversion digital studio founded by George Lucas on May 26, 1975. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lu ...
.


Filming locations

The movie was filmed in and around
Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
,
Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...
. The fictional corporation DigiCom is located in Pioneer Square, on a set which was constructed for the film. Production designer Neil Spisak said, "DigiCom needed to have a hard edge to it, with lots of glass and a modern look juxtaposed against the old red brick which is indigenous to the Pioneer Square area of Seattle. Barry liked the idea of using glass so that wherever you looked you'd see workers in their offices or stopping to chat. This seemed to fit the ominous sense that Barry was looking for, a sort of ''
Rear Window ''Rear Window'' is a 1954 American mystery film, mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and written by John Michael Hayes, based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "After-Dinner Story, It Had to Be Murder". Originally released ...
'' effect, where you're looking across at people in their private spaces." Also shown are the
Washington State Ferries Washington State Ferries (WSF) is a public ferry system in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It is a division of the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and operates 10 routes serving 20 terminals within Puget ...
and Capt. Johnston Blakely Elementary School on Bainbridge Island, where Douglas's character's family lives. Other locations include Washington Park Arboretum, Volunteer Park, the
Four Seasons Hotel Four Seasons Hotels Limited, trading as Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, is a Canadian luxury hotel and resort company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Four Seasons currently operates more than 100 hotels and resorts worldwide.David Se ...
on University St.,
Pike Place Market Pike Place Market is a Marketplaces#Types, public market in Seattle, Washington, United States. It opened on August 17, 1907, and is one of the oldest continuously operated public farmers' markets in the United States. Overlooking the Elliott B ...
and Smith Tower (Alvarez's law office). The director of photography was British cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts.


Marketing

The film's marketing touted it as the first Hollywood movie with major stars to address the topic of sexual harassment. The
press kit A press kit, often referred to as a media kit in business environments, is a pre-packaged set of promotional materials that provide information about a person, company, organization or cause and which is distributed to members of the Mass media, ...
for the film was the first multimedia press kit issued by Warner Bros. with them producing it on
floppy disk A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, a diskette, or a disk) is a type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined with a ...
.


Soundtrack

The score of ''Disclosure'' was composed, orchestrated and conducted by
Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone ( , ; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, Orchestration, orchestrator, conductor, trumpeter, and pianist who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 film score, scores for cinema and televisi ...
. ''Original Motion Picture Soundtrack from the Film Disclosure'' was released by
Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...
on January 24, 1995.


Track listing

# "Serene Family" − 4:11 # "An Unusual Approach" − 7:07 # "With Energy and Decision" − 2:07 # "Virtual Reality" − 6:24 # "Preparation and Victory" − 4:04 # "Disclosure" − 0:49 # "Sad Family" − 1:29 # "Unemployed!" − 1:10 # "Sex and Computers" − 2:50 # "Computers and Work" − 2:00 # "Sex and Power" − 2:33 # "First
Passacaglia The passacaglia (; ) is a musical form that originated in early seventeenth-century Spain and is still used today by composers. It is usually of a serious character and is typically based on a bass- ostinato and written in triple metre. Origin Th ...
" − 4:21 # "Second Passacaglia" − 1:41 # "Third Passacaglia" − 4:33 # "Sex, Power and Computers" − 4:23


Release


Box office

''Disclosure'' was a financial success, grossing $214 million worldwide ($83 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales and $131 million in other territories), against a budget of about $55 million. It became one of director
Barry Levinson Barry Lee Levinson (born April 6, 1942) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Levinson won the Academy Award for Best Director for '' Rain Man'' (1988). His other best-known works are ''Diner'' (1982), '' The Natural'' (1984 ...
's most successful films after his initial successes with ''
Good Morning, Vietnam ''Good Morning, Vietnam'' is a 1987 American war comedy film written by Mitch Markowitz and directed by Barry Levinson. Set in Saigon in 1965, during the Vietnam War, the film stars Robin Williams as an Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS) D ...
'' and ''
Rain Man ''Rain Man'' is a 1988 American road movie, road comedy-Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Barry Levinson and written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass. It tells the story of abrasive and selfish wikt:wheeler-dealer, wheeler-dea ...
''. Its success extended to the
video rental A video rental shop/store is a physical retail business that rents home videos such as movies, prerecorded TV shows, video game cartridges/discs and other media content. Typically, a rental shop conducts business with customers under conditi ...
market, and was the third most rented movie of 1995 in the United States.


Critical reception

Critical response was mixed, with some lauding the film's take on sexual harassment and others critiquing its plot, character development and implausibility.
Mick LaSalle Mick LaSalle (born May 7, 1959) is an American film critic and the author of two books on pre-Code Hollywood. Up to March 2008, he had written more than 1,550 reviews for the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' and he has been podcasting them since Sep ...
of the ''
San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...
'' praised the film and said Douglas makes for "a complex and sympathetic
Everyman The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them. Origin and history The term ''everyman'' was used ...
", adding, "along the way it paints a picture of corporate America that in itself is a kind of horror story". Ian Nathan of ''
Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...
'' gave it four stars out of five and called it "genuinely gripping", further stating that "
Demi Moore Demi Gene Moore ( ; née Guynes; born November 11, 1962) is an American actress. After rising to prominence in the early 1980s, she became the world's highest-paid actress by 1995. List of awards and nominations received by Demi Moore, Her acc ...
makes an awesome
femme fatale A ( , ; ), sometimes called a maneater, Mata Hari, or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and Seduction, seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype ...
". Critic
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
called the film's theme "basically a launch pad for sex scenes" and further said, "yet the movie is so sleek, so glossy, so filled with Possessoporn (toys so expensive they're erotic), that you can enjoy it like a
Sharper Image Sharper Image is an American brand that offers consumers home electronics, air purifiers, gifts, and other lifestyle products through its website, catalog, and third-party retailers. The brand is owned by ThreeSixty Group, with the U.S. catalog a ...
catalog that walks and talks." He also criticized its convoluted plot, of which he said, "I defy anyone to explain." He added: "As the movie started, I expected a sexy docudrama about sexual harassment. What I got was more of a thriller and
whodunit A ''whodunit'' (less commonly spelled as ''whodunnit''; a colloquial elision of "Who asdone it?") is a complex plot-driven variety of detective fiction Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an criminal ...
, in which the harassment theme gets misplaced. Too bad, since the best scenes involve the attorneys for Moore and Douglas, and especially the scenes where Douglas' attorney sets out in chilling detail what a lawsuit is likely to do to his life. There's also an intriguing subplot involving Douglas' relationship with his wife (Caroline Goodall). Much could have been made of this material. Much has been made of it. But not the same much." Marjorie Baumgarten of ''
The Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogra ...
'' observed: "In its rush to push hot buttons, ''Disclosure'' neglected some essentials of good storytelling." ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' critic
Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, who served as a film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1977 to 1999, serving as chief critic for the last six years, and then a literary critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000, M ...
wrote much of the film "is talky and uneventful, with legal maneuverings and corporate strategies substituting for more energetic drama". Maslin concluded, "The storytelling of ''Disclosure'' is too forced and polemical to be on a par with better Crichton tales like ''Jurassic Park''. This time, it's the author who's the dinosaur." Some critics described the characters as flat and lacking dimension. ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
''s Desson Thomson felt that the script left out key sections of the novel. Others noted Meredith's motives went unexplored, with some opining Moore is stuck playing a thankless femme fatale role. The ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''
Kenneth Turan Kenneth Turan (; born October 27, 1946) is an American retired film critic, author, and lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. He was a film critic for the ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1991 ...
said while the film is "adequately entertaining", it lacks a "creative passion." He added "screenwriter Attanasio, who dealt thoughtfully with ethical dilemmas in ''Quiz Show'', works in a more limited moral palette in ''Disclosure'', where questions of who is right and who is wrong are plainly obvious. The idea that sexual harassment is about power, not sex, and that a woman in power can potentially misbehave just like a man may be news to certain segments of the population, but they are not news enough to light a much-needed fire under this production." The climactic
virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...
scene has since been singled out for its datedness and "silliness". Critics claimed that the movie was about the male cultural fear of
feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
and powerful women in the workplace. Some critics expressed their disappointment that though the film purported to be about sexual harassment, the topic is merely used as a plot device as part of a broader corporate thriller story. In the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'', Michael Wilmington wrote: "there's a
fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful bei ...
quality about Crichton's resolution. Supposedly ''Disclosure'' is about sexual harassment as a universal problem. But, on a deeper level, it's probably about the fear of men in the modern corporate world that women have them at a disadvantage. It suggests that a really evil, conscienceless-and sexy-woman can manipulate that changed climate to destroy a decent but non-political man (because she'll be believed when he won't)." The supporting cast, particularly Roma Maffia and Donald Sutherland, received positive reviews. Commendation was also given to the film's production design, particularly the DigiCom offices. The film has an approval rating of 59% on
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
based on 63 reviews.


Year-end lists

* Honorable mention – Jeff Simon, ''
The Buffalo News ''The Buffalo News'' is the daily newspaper of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area, located in downtown Buffalo, New York. It was for decades the only paper fully owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. On January 29, 2020, th ...
'' * Dishonorable mention – Dan Craft, ''
The Pantagraph ''The Pantagraph'' is a daily newspaper that serves Bloomington–Normal, Illinois, along with 60 communities and eight counties in the Central Illinois area. Its headquarters are in Bloomington and it is owned by Lee Enterprises. The name is ...
''


In popular culture

The adult animated sitcom '' Big Mouth'' parodied the film in "Disclosure the Movie: The Musical" (season 3 episode 10), featuring a raunchy stage musical adaptation starring pre-teen students.


See also

* ''
Aitraaz ''Aitraaz'' () is a 2004 Indian Hindi-language romantic thriller film directed by Abbas–Mustan and produced by Subhash Ghai. It stars Akshay Kumar, Priyanka Chopra and Kareena Kapoor. ''Aitraaz'' tells the story of a man accused of sexu ...
'', Bollywood remake of ''Disclosure'' * '' Inkaar'' (2013), a Hindi film with a similar plot * '' Indira Vizha'', a
Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...
film adaptation


References


External links

* * *
Movie stills
{{DEFAULTSORT:Disclosure (Film) 1994 films 1994 thriller films 1990s American films 1990s business films 1990s English-language films 1990s erotic thriller films 1990s legal thriller films American business films American courtroom films American erotic thriller films American legal thriller films American techno-thriller films English-language erotic thriller films Films about businesspeople Films about computing Films about sexual harassment Films about technological impact Films based on American thriller novels Films based on works by Michael Crichton Films directed by Barry Levinson Films scored by Ennio Morricone Films set in Seattle Films shot in Seattle Films with screenplays by Paul Attanasio Warner Bros. films