"Tricked" begins as a blatant advertisement for Paul Verhoeven, versatile filmmaker. This part of the film is only interesting in that it doesn't reveal anything substantial about his personality or abilities. We see him smiling his way through suggestions and talking about how important it is to him to challenge himself creatively ("I personally trust that the unknown forces you to be creative"). Verhoeven's films actively mock authority, so you'd be forgiven for rolling your eyes as the director of "Starship Troopers" compares his collaborative process to a "democracy," then jokingly suggest to one actress that she lower her shirt ("We don't have to insist on that!"). Feel free to step out to the lobby for this part of the film.
The fiction portion of "Tricked"—the part you really paid to see—fares much better. Company man Remco's family life is thrown into chaos when ex-lover/secretary Nadja (Sallie Harmsen) reveals at his birthday party that she's eight months pregnant. Her news is not that shocking: Remco (Peter Blok) is a renowned philanderer, an inarguable fact that his disaffected teenage children Lieke (Carolien Spoor) and Tobias (Robert de Hoog) are aware of. Even Remco's cool-headed wife Ineke (Ricky Koole) seems to know more than she lets on, though at first we're unclear on how many details she knows. Nevertheless, Nadja's presence is inconvenient for Remco: his business partners are blackmailing him into selling his company's controlling stake, and teenage conquest/Lieke's BFF Merel (Gaite Jansen) wants more than a little attention.
Determining who knows what, and just how badly they're screwing each other over, accounts for approximately 60% the film's inessential pleasures. Betrayals are casually revealed through cell phones abandoned on diner counters, laptops left without passwords, even a tampon left bobbing in Remco's toilet. This last plot point is a sign of the film's conspicuous but lighthearted viciousness as well as a wily critique of information age carelessness. Verhoeven's characters are perpetually distracted as they openly pursue their vices: drinks, drugs, sex, etc. Everybody has skeletons hidden in easily accessible closets.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7s7vGnqmempWnwW%2BvzqZmq52mnrK4v46tqaKbm5qxbn6Pam0%3D