GUILTY AS SIN
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1993 James Berardinelli
Rating: 5.9 out of 10 (C, ** out of ****)
Date Released: 6/4/93 Running Length: 1:48 Rated: R (Sexual situations, violence, language)
Starring: Rebecca DeMornay, Don Johnson, Jack Warden, Stephen Lang Director: Sidney Lumet Producer: Martin Ransohoff Screenplay: Larry Cohen Music: Howard Shore Released by Hollywood Pictures
David Greenhill (Don Johnson) is about to go on trial for the murder of his rich socialite wife. To prepare his defense, he solicits one of the best young female lawyers in the country, Jennifer Haines (Rebecca DeMornay). After an initial bout of reluctance, Jennifer decides to take the case--she realizes that David is a womanizer and manipulator, but she believes him to be innocent ("People who are guilty are rarely this blunt," she confesses) and sees his case as a challenge. However, from the moment she accepts him as a client, she finds herself in over her head as David, obviously not possessing the most stable of personalities, begins to toy with her personal life-- and her mind.
Trials and questions of guilt and innocence are nothing new, but GUILTY AS SIN has a few twists that give this film a different slant than many other courtroom thriller/dramas. Limited though it is, the strength of this picture lies not in a tense verbal jousting match between prosecuting and defense attorneys, because there isn't one, nor is it to be found in the "did he do it/didn't he" theme, since the truth is revealed relatively early. Instead, the centerpiece is the cat-and-mouse game played between Jennifer and David as the two twist and manipulate circumstances, people, and each other. Much of the story, while admittedly overplotted, is cleverly-conceived and fun to watch. That's what makes the ending such a colossal disappointment.
Often, the final act of a film has little impact on the overall quality of the product. There are a number of good films that have weak conclusions, and a few horrible movies that surprise with unexpectedly-solid wrap-ups. GUILTY AS SIN, however, is an example of how an ending can ruin the entire picture. Without revealing anything plot-wise, let me simply state the final moments lead to an inept and feeble letdown. Everything that was carefully developed during the first ninety-five minutes is thrown away in the last ten. It's almost as if someone different was brought in to do the writing. What's worse is that it's easy to construct scenarios that would have made a fitting conclusion to an otherwise-intriguing and entertaining film.
While the end of GUILTY AS SIN is by far the film's most grievous fault, it is by no means the only sour point. Some of the dialogue could have used a re-write or two. There are a number of lines that are unintentionally funny, and this is a bad sign for a movie trying to develop tension. There's also a truly horrible performance given by Stephen Lang, who fails to infuse his Phil Garson (Jennifer's lover) with anything remotely resembling humanity. Fortunately, he doesn't have a large role.
Rebecca DeMornay is inconsistent. There are scenes when she does an excellent job, but an equal number when she is amateurish, stilted, or unconvincing. She's at her best playing someone of cool, ruthless intelligence and at her worst attempting to give an impression of vulnerability. Strong emotion appears to be something that she has difficulty portraying effectively.
Don Johnson, on the other hand, is wildly charismatic as David Greenhill. He plays the role to the hilt, pulling out all the stops and more than occasionally overacting. What he does is perfect for the movie, and immensely fun to watch (it also helps to erase the memory of an execrable performance in Born Yesterday). There aren't many movies when I find myself sympathizing with the villain, but this is among the exceptions, Johnson's acting putting me solidly in Greenhill's corner. Oddly enough, another recent example of this occurred when I rooted for DeMornay's Paige in THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE.
Comparisons can be made to JAGGED EDGE, but most of the similarities are superficial. Aside from EDGE being a better-crafted piece of entertainment, there's a lot to differentiate the two. While it's true that Jack Warden's character in GUILTY AS SIN is uncannily like Robert Loggia's in EDGE, and that in both films there's a strange attraction between the female lawyer and a client that she believes to be innocent, each of the movies focuses on something different. GUILTY AS SIN pushes Greenhill's guilt or innocence into the background, along with his trial, to zero in on his bizarre and weirdly fascinating relationship with Jennifer.
GUILTY AS SIN will not win any awards for realism, but as escapism it's fine--until the ending, that is. It's disappointing and amazing how a few ill-conceived pages of script can shatter what might otherwise have been a shallow-but-enjoyable thriller. What a waste.
- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)
.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews