ROLAND JOFFE
Bil’s rating (out of 5): B.5.
USA/Germany, 1998. Regency Enterprises, Gotham Entertainment Group, Lightmotive. Story by Ron Peer, Screenplay by Ron Peer, Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow. Cinematography by Dante Spinotti. Produced by Chris Daniel, Patrick McDarrah, Alexandra Milchan, Joel Roodman. Music by John Ottman. Production Design by Stewart Starkin. Costume Design by Theadora Van Runkle. Film Editing by William Steinkamp.
Lame comedy thriller that uses twists and turns in place of interesting characters and wise dialogue. Patricia Arquette plays a woman married to Dermot Mulroney but having an affair with Don Johnson, someone ends up dead, we’re not sure how it really happened, someone ends up really in love with someone else, and to confound it all, a nosy, wisecracking detective (Ellen DeGeneres) keeps the bad guy from getting away too smoothly. Arquette is no classic femme fatale, though she tries hard, and performances by Johnson, Mulroney and Mary-Louise Parker are just plain boring. A terrific musical score by John Ottman and a very funny performance by DeGeneres (especially her makeup in the last scene) helps, and the movie is stylish, but it’s also hopelessly empty.
