Directed by Palme d'Or winner Chen Kaige, Killing Me Softly is an unintentionally hilarious erotic thriller that suffered such negative critical reception that it remains Kaige's first and only English-language movie. Taking itself far too seriously to begin with, things soon devolve into outright awfulness thanks to a ridiculous plot and two incredibly wooden lead performances that spout streams of cringeworthy dialogue. For something attempting to be a high-brow erotic thriller, Joseph Fiennes and Heather Graham generate precisely zero chemistry, which is hardly ideal given the genre. The way in which their relationship progresses is mind-bogglingly stupid, with Fiennes' character proposing immediately after thwarting a mugging and beating a man to a pulp. Yes, that really happens. She says yes, by the way. Full of ridiculous plot twists and passionless sex scenes, Killing Me Softly does have its merits when watched as a comedy, which surely wasn't the intention when this $25m misfire was being produced.