ROBERT BENTON
Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBB.
USA, 1998. Cinehaus, Paramount Pictures, Scott Rudin Productions. Screenplay by Robert Benton, Richard Russo. Cinematography by Piotr Sobocinski. Produced by Arlene Donovan, Scott Rudin. Music by Elmer Bernstein. Production Design by David Gropman. Costume Design by Joseph G. Aulisi. Film Editing by Carol Littleton.
Passable detective thriller in the Sam Spade vein stars Paul Newman as a disgruntled private eye investigating a teen’s disappearance and involvement in a crime. An all-star cast of Susan Sarandon, James Garner, Reese Witherspoon and Liev Schreiber is a plus, but the plotting is so deliberately slow and the story so bland that not much is worth remembering. Director Robert Benton chould have at least taken a hammier approach to the material and done a tribute to the genre but instead takes the material too seriously.
