SEA OF LOVE
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1989 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Steamy love story crossed with a tepid police procedural mystery. The plot may have been intended to be clever but fails somehow to have anything very unexpected. There are problems in continuity, casting, and plotting. Rating: low +1.
There is a serial killer in New York City. Somebody seems to be answering all the rhyming ads men put in the personals columns and killing the men placing the ads. Twenty-year veteran police detective Frank Keller (played by Al Pacino) teams up with Sherman (played by John Goodman). Frank and Sherman decide that the fastest way to catch the killer is to place their own personals ad and plan rendezvous with the thirty or so women who respond to the ad. By getting the fingerprints of each, they hope to get a match with the fingerprints found at the scenes of the murders. One woman who responds is the tall, slim, and sensuous Helen (played by Ellen Barkin). Frank fails to get Helen's fingerprints, but runs into her again and they become lovers. Now here is one failing of the plot. Frank is ambivalent on finding out if Helen is connected with the murders, but on those days he is curious he is willing to steal her Social Security card but not to take her fingerprints. Frank is expert enough to recognize if two prints match, but he never bothers to compare.
Pacino's character is one heck of a policeman. He is an alcoholic, he has a chip on his shoulder, and he is a slob. Even worse, he garbles his lines so they are almost incomprehensible. Barkin makes all the right moves to play a really sexy woman, but somehow she never makes it all the way to actually being sexy. Still, her love scenes are sufficiently steamy to keep the audience staring closely at the screen. Rounding out the cast is the now familiar John Goodman. Goodman has a big St. Bernardish look but is likable as the wise-cracking partner. Also on hand is William Hickey playing Pacino's father. Hickey looks and talks like Pacino much more than some other actors who could have been cast in the role such as Jay Silverheels or Toshiro Mifune.
While this film has been likened by some to BODY HEAT, the story is really just an okay police procedural about the catching of a killer. While the dialogue is often quite funny, particularly in the byplay of the two partners, the script is overall just mediocre. The plot is just not very clever or intricate, and needs a few more twists to keep up audience interest. I rate this one a low +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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