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Wednesday, September 23, 2020

MURDER IN A SMALL TOWN / THE LADY IN QUESTION (1991)

Still impish and good company at 66, Gene Wilder called it a day after writing & starring in this pair of not-quite-good-enough murder mysteries.*  Director/manager of a modest Rep Co in late-1930s Connecticut (he left a big B’way career after his wife was murdered), his unusual knack for spotting TRUTH in his actors make him invaluable to local homicide dick Mike Starr, the two a sort of Odd Couple investigating team.  A nifty setup, no doubt meant to serve a longer series of cable movies.  (Hence holding the unsolved murder of Wilder’s wife in reserve.)  Easy going to a fault, we haphazardly bump into clues & relationships till Wilder randomly pulls everything together with the big revelation.  TOWN has one of those richest-guy-in-town bastards as victim, everyone wants to bump him off; LADY (better of the two) poisons Claire Bloom before she can give her fortune to an anti-Nazi fund.  In both, director Joyce Chopra keeps too steady a pace, smoothing out any chance for tension or suspense, but does get decent perfs from her cast, other than portly co-star Mike Starr whose ‘gumba-goodfella’ cop act is tired & overplayed, his buddy/buddy working routine with Wilder never adequately explained.  It’s watchable, and looks pretty good for a cable pic of the day (classy cinematographer Bruce Surtees shot both), but Wilder mostly unable to correct the long-running descent from his mid-‘70s prime.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Excluding two guest turns on the WILL & GRACE sit-com.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: In the second film, Wilder must have gotten a request to stick in one of his signature audience-pleasing panic attacks.  It certainly perks things up!

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