Hard to believe this was directed by the same guy that once made "The French Connection". Sure, this was written by the king of sleaze Joe Eszterhas (this was the lowest he got yet: one of the victims held a collection of female pubic hair) but at least Paul Verhoeven managed to turn "Basic Instinct" and even "Showgirls" into something more watchable than this rubbish. Besides, director William Friedkin is also to blame, if anything for his bland, indifferent direction. The Chinatown car chase sequence, which some other users around here seem to appreciate was poorly constructed, filmed and edited and there's a sex scene involving a high heel on a man's crouch that beats the pool scene from "Showgirls" in hilarity. Linda Fiorentino plays a sad caricature of her character in "The Last Seduction", while David Caruso pulls off a pretty decent performance. There's a certain atmospheric appeal to this movie but the predictable, derivative mystery is not even remotely satisfying.