SCAM A Film Review Copyright Dragan Antulov 2000
Whenever mothers tell their sons to beware of certain kinds of women, they probably have protagonist of this film in mind. "Heroine" of SCAM, 1993 TV thriller directed by John Flynn, is Maggie Rohrer (played by Lorraine Bracco), con artist who seduces rich single men only to slip tranquillisers in their drinks and clean their valets while they sleep. John Shanks (played by Christopher Walken), her latest potential target is not only able to see through her act but actually wants to use it for the scheme of his own. The idea is to rip off powerful crime lord by stealing his programmer's computer files. Maggie agrees to participate in the scam but she doesn't trust her new partner, especially after she finds hints that could give entirely different motives to his actions.
Script by Craig Smith (based on his novel) looked quite interesting, providing crime story which revolves about intrigue and mind games instead of gunplay. Director John Flynn, specialised for action films, had quite impressive cast for this TV production - always reliable Christopher Walken is great as con artist with mysterious motives, while Lorraine Bracco is quite believable as not very glamorous but successful professional seductress. Unfortunately, it seems that Flynn and the rest of the crew got a little bit too relaxed during the production - movie looks rather cheap, Jamaican locations aren't used enough, and the plot in the end becomes quite predictable despite endless twists. Final result is rather disappointing, and the good actors got wasted in the film that didn't rose above mediocrity of American TV production.
RATING: 3/10 (+)
Review written on October 4th 2000
Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax Fido: 2:381/100 E-mail: dragan.antulov@st.tel.hr E-mail: drax@purger.com E-mail: dragan.antulov@altbbs.fido.hr
Filmske recenzije na hrvatskom/Movie Reviews in Croatian http://film.purger.com
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