UNFORGETTABLE
A film review by Christopher Null
Copyright 1996 Christopher Null
Winner of this year's "Most Ironic Title" award, UNFORGETTABLE is anything but, taking a subject with some promise--memory transfer--and managing to butcher it into a hackneyed thriller.
UNFORGETTABLE reteams star Linda Fiorentino with director John Dahl, who worked so well together in 1994's THE LAST SEDUCTION. Unfortunately, Fiorentino, who was mentioned more than once as that year's best actress, has been in free-fall ever since, starting with JADE and now turning to this. In UNFORGETTABLE, Ray Liotta plays David Krane, a Seattle medical examiner whose wife was murdered years earlier. Krane was the prime suspect, but a technicality got him off, all the while with him protesting his innocence (yes, it's O.J. *again*).
When a similar crime takes place, Krane goes on he prowl for the killer, eventually hooking up with Martha Briggs (Fiorentino), a ditzy neurobiologist who has invented a serum which, when combined with someone's cerebro-spinal fluid, can transfer memories. Krane steals some of the serum and experiences the lives (and gruesome deaths) of the murder victims, including his wife. All the while, the side effects begin to take their toll on Krane's body, as he tries to solve the case before they become fatal.
Sadly, UNFORGETTABLE is somehow able to be confusing and predictable at the same time, relying on mild shock value and graphic violence to keep the viewer interested. It doesn't really work, and the picture drags on until the silly ending and the requisite playing of Nat King Cole's title song. Dahl's direction is otherwise good, but it's wasted on Bill Geddie's dull script. The supporting cast (including Peter Coyote, Christopher McDonald, Kim Cattrall, and David Paymer) perform with workmanlike effort--there's really not a lot here for them to do, as the story just gets in the way.
All said and done, do like the moviegoing public will do when UNFORGETTABLE is screened: forget it.
RATING: **
\-------------------------------\ |* Unquestionably awful | |** Sub-par on many levels | |*** Average, hits and misses | |**** Good, memorable film | |***** Perfection | \-------------------------------\
-Christopher Null / null@utxvms.cc.utexas.edu -Screenwriter / Novelist / Publisher -Visit the Movie Emporium at http://cca2.carrington.com/emporium/ -and e-mail requests to join the movie review mailing list
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