Mickey Rourke: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked‏

2. John Gray - Another 9½ Weeks (1997)

We said that Mickey Rourke's spate of films as the romantic lead in erotic thrillers was inexplicable - and comparable to Michael Douglas - but maybe that was a tad disingenuous. After all, as we saw in Diner, he was something of a looker in his early years. Y'know, before he got his face beaten to a pulp and let some quack piece it back together, presumably whilst drunk or stoned or looking through a kaleidoscope or all three. 9½ Weeks may not be particularly fondly remembered, and didn't get reviewed well at the time, but it was certainly a box office smash, and the "highlight" of Rourke's brief foray into Hollywood softcore. Not even the box office smiled upon its direct-to-video sequel, mind, and neither will you. Back in 1986, when the first 9½ Weeks was made, Rourke and co-star Kim Basinger were two of the most good-looking movie stars working in the industry. In 1997, that was no longer the case. Basinger had all but retired, following a brief comeback in neo-noir LA Confidential, whilst Rourke was struggling to get back into the game following the boxing fiasco. We assume its this desperation to lead to him agreeing to appear in this awful sequel, where he reprises his role as Wall Street maven John Gray, this time shacking up with Angie Everhart's Lea. They have gross sex and Rourke scales the heights of the best and brightest direct-to-video stars ie not very high at all.