''Pyrates'' is a 1991

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

, starring

Kevin Bacon Kevin Norwood Bacon (born July 8, 1958) is an American actor. His films include the musical-drama film '' Footloose'' (1984), the controversial historical conspiracy legal thriller '' JFK'' (1991), the legal drama '' A Few Good Men'' (1992), t ...

and

Kyra Sedgwick Kyra Minturn Sedgwick (; born August 19, 1965) is an American actress, producer and director. For her starring role as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson on the TNT crime drama ''The Closer'', she won a Golden Globe Award in 2007 and an Emmy Awa ...

about a couple who experience

pyrokinesis Pyrokinesis is the purported psychic ability allowing a person to create and control fire with the mind. As with other parapsychological phenomena, there is no conclusive evidence in support of the actual existence of pyrokinesis. Many alleged c ...

after having sex. Directed and written by Noah Stern, the film was released on VHS on December 18, 1991.

Plot

When Ari (

) and Sam (

) first meet they realise that there is chemistry between them. When they have sex with each other, they experience

. However, as their love affair does not run smoothly, their friends Liam ( Bruce Martyn Payne) and Pia (

Kristin Dattilo Kristin Dattilo (born November 30, 1970) is an American television actress, known for playing manager Yola Gaylen on ''The Chris Isaak Show'' from 2001 to 2004 and detective Barbara Gianna in season 3 of ''Dexter''. Early life Dattilo was bo ...

) intervene to try to help. At one point when Sam is angry with Ari, Liam helps Ari to serenade her with a rendition the

Soft Cell Soft Cell are an English synthpop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s. The duo consists of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball. The band are primarily known for their 1981 hit version of "Tainted Love" and their plat ...

song ''

Tainted Love "Tainted Love" is a song composed by Ed Cobb, formerly of American group the Four Preps, which was originally recorded by Gloria Jones in 1964. It attained worldwide fame after being covered and reworked by British synthpop duo Soft Cell in 198 ...

''.

Cast

as Ari *

as Sam * Bruce Martyn Payne as Liam *

as Pia *Buckley Harris as Dr. Weiss *

Deborah Falconer Deborah Falconer is an American singer, songwriter, model, and actress. Her first album was ''Untangle''. She released her second album, ''Brave Like Me'', on July 22, 2003. Her third album, ''Lift Your Gaze'', was released on October 18, 2014. ...

as Rivkah *David Pressman as Carlton *

Raymond O'Connor Raymond O'Connor (born September 13, 1952) is an American character actor. Career Raymond O'Connor has been in a number of films, some small roles and some large roles as well. His first role was in the 1985 mini series '' Kane & Abel''. O'Con ...

as Fireman *

Byrne Piven Bernard Piven (September 24, 1929 – February 18, 2002) was an American stage actor, director, and co-founder of the Playwrights Theatre Club, a forerunner of The Second City. He was known as Byrne Piven. Life and career Piven was born in Sc ...

as Rabbi Lichtenstein *Ernie Lee Banks as Wee Willie *

Mickey Jones Mickey Jones (June 10, 1941 – February 7, 2018) was an American musician and actor. He played drums with acts such as Trini Lopez and Bob Dylan, with whom he played on his 1966 world tour. He became a founding member of The First Edition ...

as Wisconsin Del *

Petra Verkaik __NOTOC__ The following is a list of Playboy Playmates of 1989, the 35th anniversary year of the publication. ''Playboy'' magazine names its Playmate of the Month each month throughout the year. January Fawna MacLaren (born December 18, 1965, ...

as Basia *

Clifford David Clifford David (June 30, 1928 – November 30, 2017) was an American actor, singer, and coach. His career began in the 1950s, with early live television appearances leading to roles in Broadway musicals. He also played character roles in tele ...

as Advisor * Tom Adams as Calico Jack (uncredited)

Reception

Reviews for ''Pyrates'' were generally negative. Derek Adams of '' Time Out'' criticized the film for containing few laughs, stating that "the first time a lava lamp explodes, the second time round though, and the joke's already gone too far". No Byline stated that 'with the principals coming across as charmlessly self-centred, this cornucopia of copulation is, despite an attempt at kooky episodic to-camera chit-chat, more hot air than hot stuff'. A reviewer for ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

'' stated that 'as a contemporary love story, ''Pyrates'' is well conceived and often sharply observed'. The ''

'' reviewer stated that '

Bacon Bacon is a type of salt-cured pork made from various cuts, typically the belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central ingredient (e.g., the bacon, lettuce, and tomato sand ...

and Sedgwick are both charming and exasperating as the modern lovers, a combination of self-centered innocence and mannered brittleness that rings all too true'. The ''

'' reviewer also commented that 'the supporting cast, particularly Bruce Martyn Payne and

as the friends who find themselves drawn into Ari and Sam's affair despite their best efforts to stay out, are uniformly good' but 'their work is undercut at every turn by the aggressively clever style' of the film'. Ultimately, the ''

'' reviewer thought that 'the director's smirk colors virtually every scene, and it's tough to get past'. The effect, in their view, 'is that of a glossy thesis film by a precocious and talented student who still needs to learn that all witty ideas are not created equal'. John Ferguson stated that

and

gave 'it their best shot, but director Noah Stern doesn't take the original idea anywhere interesting and, in the end, it's far too self-consciously wacky for its own good'. Ferguson also stated that 'Englishman abroad Bruce Martyn Payne - he would drop the middle name for ''

Passenger 57 ''Passenger 57'' is a 1992 American action thriller film directed by Kevin Hooks. The film stars Wesley Snipes and Bruce Payne, with Snipes portraying a security consultant who finds himself forced to foil a plot to free a captive terrorist during ...

'' - offers solid support as Bacon's best chum'. Another reviewer stated that the film was a 'real oddity' and part of a 'peculiar mini-spate of films about pyrokinesis' in the late 1980s and early 1990s, which began with '' Firestarter''.

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fil ...

described the film as 'crudely scripted' and 'ineptly directed'. Another reviewer described the film as 'forgettable'.

AllMovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was founded by popular-cult ...

's Sandra Brennan awarded the film a score of one and a half stars out of five.

Home media

The film has been released on DVD in Australia.

References

External links

* * *{{Rotten-tomatoes, id=pyrates 1991 films 1991 romantic comedy films Films shot in Chicago Films shot in Los Angeles American romantic comedy films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films