Jane Fonda initiated this L.A. murder mystery project, but it was SoCal outsider Sidney Lumet who gave it its distinctive (and paradoxical) sunshiny film noir atmosphere, all blue skies & pastel facades.* Too bad no one could bother about the script!* Fonda, awfully good here (Lumet & co-star Jeff Bridges loosening up that steel spine she’d been using as a cudgel), a one-time actress who drank her way out of the biz, wakes up in a strange bed next to a bloody corpse she doesn’t know. Remembering nothing of the night before, she spends the rest of the film on the lam, telephoning estranged husband Raul Julia for advice & support while being helped (or is it stalked?) by ex-cop/social dropout Jeff Bridges. The plot tangles are well handled by Lumet, considering their lack of logic, but neither Bridges' wary manner, nor Lumet’s gentle shock cuts can make sense of Bridges' involvement. Maybe if he was in on the plot and out to frame Fonda, we’d see some motivation for his Good Samaritan/guardian angel act, like a reverse on the two-faced characterization he’d just put over in last year’s JAGGED EDGE/’85. Faults & all, with a wondrous cast, pace & a unique vibe, this still comes across as class entertainment.
DOUBLE-BILL: Bridges at his glam peak ‘84 - ‘89: AGAINST ALL ODDS; STARMAN; JAGGED EDGE; 8 MILLION WAYS TO DIE; TUCKER; FABULOUS BAKER BOYS; even dressed down as here.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Kudos to Lumet cinematographer Andrzei Bartkowiak: 12 films in 12 years starting in 1981.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *Half of Lumet’s pics feel rushed into production with undercooked scripts.
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