In Too Deep
(Australia) 1990
Directed by Colin South & John Tatoulis Written by Deborah Parsons Cast - Hugo Race, Samantha Press, John Flaus, Dominic Sweeney and Rebecca Elmaloglou.
104 minutes colour
Review By Ralph "Leechboy" Beard
Rating: 4 out of ten or ** out of five (You Decide)
PLOT OUTLINE - Wendy (Samantha Press), a jazz Singer, loves Mack (Hugo Race) a criminal and wanna be rock singer who's planning a bank heist. Mack is also being tailed by a couple of cops, one an inexperienced rookie (Dominic Sweeney), the other (John Flaus) a worn out veteran who frequents Wendy's jazz club. They're tailing Mack, because he has an audiotape that may show evidence of governmental corruption. Meanwhile Wendy's sexually awakener, fifteen year old sister (Rebecca Elmaloglou) has moved in with her, and is secretly watching Mack and Wendy's late night love trysts… Much zaniness ensues
THE REVIEW: Main problem first - About 2% of rood rock star to actor conversions in filmdom ever really work. Unfortunately, trying to cast Hugo Race as a violent, sexy criminal falls into the "what the hell where they thinking" category that takes up 98% of the rest. But, hell, it's not as if he's the only problem in this well-intentioned but ultimately below average Aussie thriller.
Leads, Race and Samantha Press are wooden and dull, hampered by some unfortunate attempts at sexy dialogue early on. Though they do manage some heat later in their love scenes, helped, no doubt by them keeping their mouths shut. The film suffers every time the story shifts back to these two. Which is unfortunately, the other main story isn't any great shakes either.
The second part, concerning two cops, political corruption and that elusive tape is incredibly muddled. At many points during the movie I had no idea what was going on, a situation that didn't improve on repeated viewing. There is no doubt that this film's Achilles heel is its script.
As for the rest of the cast, it's a mixed bag. John Flaus, one of Australia's most criminally underused actors, is in top form as the withering, alcoholic Jazz fan cop, who may or may not have sold out to the highest bidder. Although he falters at one point, when the script calls for him to get up on stage and deliver a drunken beat sermon, but believe me, they way it was written, no one could have pulled it off. Dominic Sweeney is fine, though he seems to be uneasy in front of the lens but he really isn't given a whole lot to do. Pre Home and Away Elmaloglou is pretty good as the inquisitive JoJo, but her character seems extraneous to the story, well, at least until the final scenes.
I must admit, In Too Deep does have some impressive qualities, not the least of which is it visual element. Cinematographers Mark Gilfedder & Peter Zakharov have achieved the almost impossible by making Melbourne look like a sweat drenched tropic city, which is akin to turning London into San Paolo. The bar is an oppressive red, like all of it's patrons are being baked while they drink, outside it hazy orange by day and cool blue by night. If only Deborah Parson's script could have supported this idea better. Having two director's (Colin South & John Tatoulis) doesn't help either, the most glaring example of which is the final retribution/Fight scene, where for some reason the camera pulls away from the onscreen action, and more importantly it doesn't pull away to anything else. It just stays static as the fight happens in the distance. It has no reason to it; it's just bad direction.
And, ultimately, that is what sums up In Too Deep, it's tries to be good, and you want it to work, but, it's just lacking the talent behind it, that it needs to succeed.
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