Indecent Proposal is a 1993 American adult-themed drama film directed by Adrian Lyne and written by Amy Holden Jones. It is based on the 1988 novel by Jack Engelhard, which tells the story of a married couple whose relationship is affected by a stranger who offers a million dollars for the wife to spend the night with him. The film features Robert Redford, Demi Moore, and Woody Harrelson in leading roles.
Indecent Proposal was released by Paramount Pictures on April 7, 1993. Critics generally gave the film negative reviews, citing unrealistic or forced elements in its story. The film also caused controversy, as some feminists argued that its plot promotes the idea of treating women as property. Despite these criticisms, the film was successful at the box office, earning nearly $267 million worldwide with a production budget of $38 million. It became the sixth highest-grossing film of 1993.
Plot
David and Diana Murphy are married high school sweethearts who live in California. Diana works as a real estate agent, and David wants to become an architect by designing their dream home. The couple uses all their money to buy beachfront property in Santa Monica, California, and begins building their home. However, a recession causes Diana to lose her job and David to lose his, leaving them unable to pay their bills. To save their land from being taken by the bank, they travel to Las Vegas with their last savings to gamble.
At a casino, Diana catches the attention of a wealthy man named John Gage, while David wins $25,000 playing craps. Diana tells David she loves him no matter how much money they have or lose. The next day, they lose all their money at roulette. As they leave the casino, they see a crowd watching Gage play baccarat. Gage asks Diana to join him for luck, and she wins a bet on his $1 million wager. As a thank-you, Gage pays for the Murphys’ hotel stay, gives them a luxurious suite, and buys Diana a dress she had admired. Later, Gage offers the couple $1 million to spend a night with him, but David refuses.
Later, Diana convinces David to agree to the deal. David contacts a lawyer to create a contract for the arrangement. When David leaves Diana with Gage, he changes his mind and rushes to stop them. He arrives just as they leave by helicopter. Gage takes Diana to his private yacht and offers her a chance to cancel the deal if David loses a coin toss. David wins the toss, and Diana spends the night with Gage.
The Murphys return home to find the bank has already taken their land and sold it. David becomes angry and jealous, accusing Diana of still seeing Gage after finding his business card in her wallet. Diana denies knowing about the card and later reveals that Gage had bought their land. She confronts Gage and ends their relationship. When she tells David, their marriage ends, and Diana lets David keep the $1 million.
Weeks later, Gage visits Diana at work and tries to reconnect. She eventually agrees to spend time with him, and they begin a romantic relationship. Meanwhile, David struggles with alcohol and reaches a low point, leading to a public argument with Gage and Diana. He recovers, finds a teaching job, and Diana files for divorce. At a zoo benefit event, David sees Diana with Gage and donates the $1 million to charity. He then signs their divorce papers.
Diana realizes Gage only sees her as part of his "million-dollar club" of women and ends their relationship. Before leaving, Gage gives her his lucky coin, which she discovers has two heads. Diana returns to the pier where David proposed to her seven years earlier and finds him there. They repeat their special way of declaring love and hold hands.
Production
Paramount Pictures purchased the rights to Jack Engelhard's 1988 novel Indecent Proposal for $120,000. Adrian Lyne agreed to direct the film, working again with producer Sherry Lansing, whom he had previously collaborated with on Fatal Attraction. Lyne had a disagreement with his former collaborator, Stanley Jaffe, who wanted the film released by Christmas 1992 and limited post-production time.
The film was originally planned to star Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, with Warren Beatty playing John Gage. Kidman and Isabelle Adjani auditioned for the role of Diana. Cruise withdrew from the project due to rumors that the film's themes conflicted with his new involvement in the Church of Scientology. Robert Redford agreed to play Gage only if his character was made less villainous. He refused a $4 million salary, instead accepting a share of the film's box office earnings.
Johnny Depp, Tim Robbins, and William Baldwin were considered for the role of David Murphy. Woody Harrelson left Benny & Joon to join the film, leading to a legal dispute with MGM-Pathe Entertainment, which was resolved without going to court.
Screenwriter Amy Holden Jones stated that the film's ending was changed multiple times, mostly by men. In her original script, Diana left Gage on her own, without pressure from him. Jones explained that the men in charge, including Redford, made Gage more sympathetic. She wrote that Diana realized she was Gage's "next acquisition," but this was altered. Jones said she suggested Diana leave both men at the end, but her idea was ignored.
William Goldman said he was brought in to work on the script after John Cusack declined the role. "They couldn’t get anyone to do it," he said. "I wrote a draft, and they didn’t change anything. It was an enormous success, so that’s good for me."
Filming began in Las Vegas in June 1992, with casino scenes shot at the Westgate Las Vegas. After one month, production moved to southern California, using locations in Echo Park and a Santa Barbara mansion for Gage’s home.
Lyne included a scene from the book Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women because its author, Susan Faludi, had criticized his film Fatal Attraction.
Post-production work was completed about two weeks before the film's release in April 1993.
Engelhard’s novel included cultural conflicts not shown in the movie, such as the Jewish main character and his Arab billionaire rival. A New York Times review described the novel’s themes as "the sanctity of marriage versus the love of money, the Jew versus non-Jews, skill versus luck, materialism versus spirituality, Israel versus Arab countries, the past versus the future, and the religious world versus the secular one."
Reception
Indecent Proposal was a successful movie, earning $106,614,059 in the United States and Canada and $159,985,941 in other countries, for a total of $266,600,000 worldwide.
The film opened on 1,694 screens in the U.S. and Canada on April 7, 1993. It earned $18,387,632 in its first weekend, becoming the top movie in the U.S. at that time for an April release. It stayed number one for four weeks and was the sixth highest-grossing film of 1993. Some reporters said the movie’s success was due to Paramount’s marketing efforts and the film’s attention-grabbing story, which sparked debates among audiences.
The film began showing in other countries on April 23, 1993. It previewed on 66 screens in Australia and earned $800,000 (A$1.16 million) over three days, becoming the top movie in Australia that week. It officially opened in Australia on April 29 and stayed number one for four more weeks. In the UK, it earned $2.4 million (£1.5 million) in its opening weekend, including previews, and remained number one for three weeks. In Italy, it had the second-largest opening for Paramount/United International Pictures, earning $1.6 million in its first weekend.
Critics gave the film mostly negative reviews. They said the story was not well-written and the characters were not developed enough. Some critics compared it to other movies where women are treated as property, such as Pretty Woman, Honeymoon in Vegas, and Mad Dog and Glory. One major criticism was that the film did not fully explore its interesting idea. Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that the film was too cautious and did not allow the characters to change or grow.
Anthony Brett of The Telegraph said the film was a "distasteful and plodding romantic drama" that avoided discussing serious topics. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly called it a "languid…domestic soap opera" that failed to deliver on its promise.
Most critics praised Robert Redford’s performance, but some said his character, John Gage, was too similar to his role in The Great Gatsby. Janet Maslin noted that Redford’s character had a "glow" of wealth and power. Critics also said that Michelle Pfeiffer gave a strong performance but struggled when the script was weak. Some said Woody Harrelson’s role was underdeveloped, but others praised the supporting cast, especially Oliver Platt as the Murphys’ lawyer.
Many critics said the film lost its energy after the main event in the story. In a 2014 review, Nathan Rabin wrote that the film lacked important stakes, as the money earned by the characters no longer seemed important.
The film also faced criticism from feminists and others who said it portrayed a woman trading her body for money to help her husband. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called it "sexist propaganda." Activists like Betty Friedan and filmmaker Callie Khouri said the film promoted ideas about prostitution. Feminist writer Susan Faludi compared the film’s main character to "raping a woman with money." Producer Denise Di Novi said the film could be seen as a "women in prison" story. Camille Paglia disagreed, saying the film reflected something about women’s sexuality that feminism could not explain.
Amy Holden Jones defended the film in The Los Angeles Times, saying the main character, Diana, had control over her choices and that much of the criticism came from male critics. She later said the film caused controversy because it showed a woman making a difficult decision.
Roger Ebert gave the film a positive review, saying it had a "genuine romantic spirit" even though the plot had logical problems. He said people enjoy movies like this because they want to escape reality for a while. Caryn James of The New York Times said the film was not always good but turned an inflammatory idea into an honest and entertaining movie. Janet Maslin gave a mixed review, saying the film was "calls for grudging admiration" but had a weak script.
On the review site Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a 33% approval rating, with critics saying it was mostly negative but had some entertaining moments.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was released on April 6, 1993, by MCA Records. "In All the Right Places" by Lisa Stansfield was released as the album's lead single on May 24, 1993, and serves as the film's theme song. Sheena Easton appears briefly in the movie, performing "The Nearness of You" during an important scene. The soundtrack is 60 minutes and 37 seconds long. "No Ordinary Love" by the English band Sade was played a major role in the film, but it was not included on the soundtrack album. In 2015, Intrada Records released an album containing John Barry's musical score.
Remake
On July 30, 2018, Paramount Players stated that a new version of the film was being created, and Erin Cressida Wilson was writing the screenplay.
In popular culture
The animation series The Simpsons’ 2002 episode "Half-Decent Proposal" copies the movie’s idea in a funny way.
In the television series Mad About You’s episode "A Pair of Hearts," during the end credits, the married couple Paul and Jamie Buchman are approached by a man who offers a million dollars to sleep with Jamie. They quickly say "Sure!" and, after a quick kiss, Jamie leaves with the man as the audience laughs.
The British sitcom Peep Show’s episode "Conference" includes parts of the movie’s story in the secondary storyline. Alan Johnson meets the girlfriend of his employee’s flatmate and finds her attractive. Alan then enters Jeremy’s room and offers him £530 to sleep with his girlfriend, Big Suze. Jeremy, at first unsure, agrees. Jeremy tells his girlfriend about the plan, and she is shocked and leaves him. Later, Jeremy visits Big Suze’s house to apologize and is surprised to see Alan at the door wearing a bathrobe. It is then shown that Alan and Big Suze have started dating. Near the end of the episode, Jeremy confronts Alan about the money he believes he was tricked into giving. Alan then gives him £380 from his wallet.
The TV series Impractical Jokers featured a challenge based on the movie in the episode "Indecent Proposal," where Sal Vulcano is forced to ask couples, while working as a dance instructor’s assistant, if they would agree to meet him in a more romantic setting in exchange for money.