I don’t remember Stone pulling faces in the first film, or dropping her G’s and slinging her lines like the spawn of Mae West and Clint Eastwood. The only person who’ll enjoy this travesty is the exiled Eszterhas, who’ll no doubt be pleasuring himself as his pagan goddess thuds to earth.

Friends With Money
Directed by Nicole Holofcener. Sony Pictures Classics. R.

Basic Instinct 2
Directed by Michael Caton-Jones. MGM. R.

E-mail: filmcritic@newyorkmag.com.

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