Wolff rating: MOSTLY HARMLESS
Plot summary: Small-time criminal gets caught up in a web of power games between the local mob, the cops, and the feds. And his wife.
Biased, pithy comments: Like ``Jade,'' this film makes you just fail to believe that Caruso gave up his day job on NYPD Blue for *this*. A sordid story (based on an old Ben Hecht screenplay from 1947) that meanders about, languidly reaching for the ``Law and Order'' twist ending (which was so twisty I shouted it out 15 minutes before it happened). Caruso is flat, skinny, and uninteresting while Cage is completely over the top as a psychopath leader. Philip Baker Hall can convincingly play nearly dead; Rapaport seems destined to play the stupid guy in every movie ever. Hunt cleverly dies early in the film to preserve her career. (Whoops, a plot point. Gee, what a suprise.) Made-for-TV-movie level.
Other Notes: Sara and I kept trying to guess what the theme was in this film---maybe it was beatings, maybe it was effective car-stealing techniques, maybe it was an exercise in exposition. Sigh.
How many times I have seen it: x1
Starring: David Caruso, Samuel L. Jackson, Nicolas Cage, Helen Hunt, Stanley Tucci, Michael Rapaport.
Directed by: Babet Schroeder