Dr Lauren Slaughter is an American academic who comes to London to work for a foreign-affairs think-tank. Her work is prestigious but badly paid, and Lauren decides to supplement her income by moonlighting for an upmarket escort agency, mostly catering for the needs of wealthy foreign businessmen. The set-up is not officially a prostitution ring, but sails fairly close to being one; the idea is that the man pays for the girl's company and it is then up to her whether she goes to bed with him. Lauren proves a success in her new line of work and is able to leave her downmarket flat for a much more exclusive residence in the Half Moon Street of the title. The film explores what happens when she falls in love with one of her clients, Lord Bulbeck, a Government foreign office minister involved in negotiations towards a Middle East peace settlement.This is not really one of Michael Caine's best films. Most of his best performances have come in films where he has played characters who are, in one sense or another, outsiders or rebels against the system- the down-at-heel spy in "The Ipcress File", the Cockney womaniser in "Alfie", the gangster in "Get Carter", the cynical, disillusioned academic in "Educating Rita" or the drunken minor diplomat in "The Honorary Consul". Admittedly, his first starring role was in "Zulu", where he played the upper-class Lieutenant Bromhead, but I have never thought he was the best thing about that film. Here he plays a high-ranking establishment figure, but never seems completely convincing in the role, even though Bulbeck, a working-class trade union official raised to the peerage, is a co-opted member of the British establishment rather than one born to the purple.Sigourney Weaver, however, is better as the heroine. She was, along with the likes of Meryl Streep, Kim Basinger, Jessica Lange and Michelle Pfeiffer, one of the bright new generation of Hollywood actresses who came to prominence in the late seventies and eighties, and gave some great performances in films like "Alien", "Gorillas in the Mist" and "Working Girl". Here she captures the various, often conflicting, aspects of Lauren's personality,- her intelligence, her outgoing nature and a hint of an underlying mercenary ruthlessness, which nevertheless co-exists with a genuine capacity for love.For most of its length the film is a psychological romantic drama, like a romantic comedy without the jokes, and as such it works reasonably well. Towards the end, however, it morphs into a political thriller as Lauren discovers that she has become embroiled in a conspiracy by opponents of the Middle East peace process to assassinate Bulbeck, and as a thriller it does not work well at all, failing to generate any real tension. Despite a promising beginning, this sudden switch from one genre to another means that "Half Moon Street" is one of those films that fall between two stools. 6/10

Pair perhaps the most obnoxious character in the history of movies (insulting, insufferably conceited, insistent on baring her near-anorexic body to everyone including landlord on a routine basis, incapable of human warmth, bossy, foul-mouthed, promiscuous, raunchy) ---- with a purportedly famous, successful, warm man who may soon be a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize - and what do you get?One of the worst movies I've ever seen. **** SPOILERS **** Little makes sense here as contradictions just fly - e.g., we hear that the man cannot go out with anyone other than prostitutes because he hasn't the time - and then watch him attend plays, go to the country for weekends, attend dog racing, and lie at home, bored with nothing to do.e.g., we hear the man say that the notion of security risk from sexual blackmail ceased to exist forty years before - so he has no problem inviting a prostitute repeatedly to his home - and then we hear him say that he cannot visit the upscale neighborhood in which the prostitute lives because it would be a security risk.e.g., we hear that the entire virtue of escort services is to assure sex to the busy man on the go. And then we see the prostitute arrogate to herself whether or not to have sex - and repeatedly refuse sex to men who have paid rather a lot for the presumed reliability. Nevertheless, we are told (unconvincingly) that the physically unattractive prostitute has become popular. e.g., we are told repeatedly of the charm of the prostitue - but she is as coarse as anyone the viewer has ever seen, deeply insulting to all.e.g., we are told of the astounding background in Middle Eastern affairs held by the prostitute - so why was she living in China "doing field work"?e.g., we are told of the social panache of the prostitute - yet she turns up at a posh country house wearing completely the wrong clothes.e.g., we are told that the reason the American woman is poverty-stricken is due to her "desire to live abroad" - since when are all positions overseas barred to those with doctorates from Harvard? e.g., we are told that the man is a great statesman who has unparallelled skill in the negotiation of agreements between other countries - so why does he have a photograph of himself with a tyrant on his table at home?**** SPOILERS END **** This is a wretched movie - in which you yearn for someone to kill the pprotagonist - yet somehow they vainly try to make this wretched preening creature the subject of a romance. Avoid this movie - it's just awful.

I admit that I only rented this film because it has my favorite actress, Sigourney Weaver, but I was surprised to find out that this is a well acted, well written, and extremely entertaining gem. I expected the film to be pretty mediocre and kinda dull since it involves politics, but Half Moon Street is now one of my favorite films. Plot: (POSSIBLE SPOILER OR 2)Dr. Lauren Slaughter has grown tired of her low paying posistion at a university in London. She recieves a videotape from an anonymous person and watches it immediately. It turns out to be about an Escort Service. At first she thinks it's completely rediculous, but then realizes she doesn't have very many options, so she goes for an interview and gets the job. She is brought into the life of Lord Bulbeck, a British diplomat who is working on a top secret peace settlement with the Middle-East, and the two come to like eachother. What they both don't know is that someone is watching them and that now they're lives are in jeopardy. The Good:An original plot that is pulled off quite well. Great performances from everyone, especially Weaver and Caine who have a great chemistry together. The pace is fast and there's lots of suspense and intrigue. I also love the music score.The Bad:The pace lags at times, but other than that I saw few problems with this movie.Overall rating: ***** out of *****

Before I give you my opinion of this movie, I must tell you that I bought it just for the fact that Sigourney Weaver was in it. Back in late '93 - early '94, I was just becoming one of Ms. Weaver's fans. I bought the video from a little video store close to my house. When I watched it, it was (and still is!) a real treat to see a topless Ms. Weaver. Not only is she topless in more than one place in the film, the whole "famous exercise bike" scene has to rank as one of the top ten seduction scenes in my book! That having been said, as the years have passed, I've grown to like the rest of the movie for what it is: a romance/political suspense movie. I have yet to read the book, but I hope to sometime. All in all, a great movie!