Quid Pro Quo (2008)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Curtis L

  
  Pretty disturbing, but only someone like Vera Farmiga could be sexy pretending to be crippled. Makes you wonder if these people really exist. Decent ending, even though I usually hate suprise twists.

• Drew S

  
  Quid Pro Quo is burdened with flaws, a tiny indie addressing a challenging subject with all the intelligence and moral rationality of your generic people-pleasing blockbuster. Nick Stahl's narration leaves nothing up to the imagination, filling in the ideological bubbles for the… More
  Quid Pro Quo is burdened with flaws, a tiny indie addressing a challenging subject with all the intelligence and moral rationality of your generic people-pleasing blockbuster. Nick Stahl's narration leaves nothing up to the imagination, filling in the ideological bubbles for the audience - and if they're taking the time to watch a film like this, I'm sure they don't need it. The script is far too shallow and unfair to even justify this movie getting made. Sexual deviance here is uniformly attacked as a sign of mental illness, and though there are sound arguments as to the sanity of someone who would willingly paralyze themselves to fulfill a fetish, Quid Pro Quo doesn't even let the innocent get away. Stahl meets the group of people who teach him of this lifestyle literally underground, in a dank basement under some anonymous building. The message the film is trying to send is clear - those with unconventional sexual views are somehow "dark." But if you're starting to think I'm one of those crazy bastards who nitpicks the hell out of a movie trying to isolate some phantom ideology, let me assure you that the movie also sucks on other terms. Another casualty of the lousy writing, the plot is absolutely awful, telegraphed painfully far in advance. The twists are so easy as to almost be insulting. Quid Pro Quo throws around a few flashy visual tricks, but to no real effect; the aesthetics don't support any sort of tone or theme at all, and the camera work is just artsy for the hell of it. The music is really, really cheesy. The only real reason to watch this is Vera Farmiga's interesting, technically-able performance as a woman irrevocably chained to her sexuality. She is two parts sad, three parts insane and five parts compulsively watchable. The character is not very well done, but her performance props it up just enough to sell it. Nick Stahl is serviceable but the character is even less interesting.

• Mark A

  
  Highly charged film about a very dark subject and a not often discussed subculture. A year ago this viewer had never heard of Vera Farmiga. But, the more I see of her work, the more impressed I become. Fiona (Farmiga) is a very disturbed young woman with a secret. Isaac (Nick Stahl)… More
  Highly charged film about a very dark subject and a not often discussed subculture. A year ago this viewer had never heard of Vera Farmiga. But, the more I see of her work, the more impressed I become. Fiona (Farmiga) is a very disturbed young woman with a secret. Isaac (Nick Stahl) is a paraplegic public radio story teller who gets drawn into Fiona's world and uncovers a truth about himself that he ultimately does not want to face. Powerful performances propel the story that is at once sexy, disturbing, and revealing. Sexy, without being crude, disturbing without being gloomy, and revealing without being voyeuristic. This viewer was fascinated by the story, the acting, and the characters. Atmospheric lighting, and tight cinematography, along with good pacing kept this viewer glued to the screen. At under 90 minutes, this film said a lot in a short amount of time. Four stars.

• Walter M

  
  [font=Century Gothic]In "Quid Pro Quo," Isaac Knott(Nick Stahl) has been confined to a wheelchair since the age of 8 when he was injured in a car accident in Upstate New York that claimed the lives of his parents. In the present day, he is an on air personality for public… More
  [font=Century Gothic]In "Quid Pro Quo," Isaac Knott(Nick Stahl) has been confined to a wheelchair since the age of 8 when he was injured in a car accident in Upstate New York that claimed the lives of his parents. In the present day, he is an on air personality for public radio in New York City where he is set up on blind dates since his girlfriend Raine(Aimee Mullins), also in a wheelchair, turned down his proposal of marriage. Sadly, the dates rarely turn out well. While investigating a lead on a man allegedly bribing doctors to amputate his limbs, Isaac is contacted by Fiona(Vera Farmiga) who has some insight into the wannabe community but is reticent about being interviewed on the air. What she is not shy about is sharing that she feels paralyzed in a walking body.[/font] [font=Century Gothic]As strangely offbeat as "Quid Pro Quo" is, it also contains a touching story and engaging lead performances. What really makes the movie is an eleventh hour revelation that puts everything in context, including the magic shoes. Oddly enough, the movie is kindly respectful towards the wannabes as inexplicable as their behavior may seem. My best guess would be a certain unappiness and unease in the their own skin but the hint of martyrdom is more than a little distressing. Also surprising is Isaac's willingness to answer the wannabes' questions(that level of reality of creeps them out) even as he encounters the daily difficulties of navigiating daily life in Manhattan from a wheelchair.[/font]

• William G

  
  A curious noir romance carried almost entirely by the performances of its leads, particularly Farmiga.