This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
jacey’s review published on Letterboxd:
This review may contain spoilers.
Your Common Hypocrite
Sex, drugs, and murder are all things Mary and Paul (played by Mary Woronov and Paul Bartel) were horrified by in the beginning of the film. We see in the beginning Paul horrified by his boss killing the robber of their liquor. On the drive home they scoff at the swingers and sex workers. Until they kill their first swinger, twice. They realize that the more they kill the more money they can collect for the home, and thus they twist their morals in the name of their dreams.
They talk in the beginning how disgusting Doris's business is, and then end up working with her and befriending her to further their cause. Mary uses her common sex appeal she claims to think is so “disgusting and sick” in order to get what they want. Paul Bartel (the director) is trying to convey how fast one can twist their morals if they feel it will bring them closer to what they desire, in this case framing as sex workers to kill and steal their “client's” money in order to get their restaurant. You can see 27 minutes into the film how they justify their murders. They claim that the people they're killing are “filthy” and that no one would miss them thus they're doing an almost civic duty.
We see later in the film once Raoul (Robert Beltran) saves Mary, Mary starts to shift her morals. She does the drugs Raoul offers her and later sleeps with him. All after saying she only liked some hugging and kissing and not even sleeping in the same bed as her husband. She claims it was the drugs and cigarettes he gave her that twisted her views even though it was her choice to sleep with him multiple times.
In the end they get their restaurant just like they wanted. But the film proves to us how easy it is to twist and cheat your morals and become your common hypocrite.