MIAMI BLUES
A film review by Shane R. Burridge
Copyright 1996 Shane R. Burridge
(1990) 97m.
In George Armitage's adaptation of Charles Willeford's novel, Alec Baldwin plays a wanted ex-con whose devil-may-care attitude surprisingly hasn't yet led to his capture. Upon reaching Miami he meets up with ingenue hooker Jennifer Jason Leigh, adopts her as his fiancee, and sets about supplementing their income with a string of petty thefts. Upon acquiring the cuffs, badge, and other accouterments of cop Fred Ward, he discovers that larceny has never been easier. Disarming black comedy-drama stands out among others in the pack because its offbeat plot turns make it hard for the viewer to match a rhythm to it. The sex scene we all expect comes earlier than expected, the initial meeting between Baldwin and Ward isn't how we anticipate it, and Baldwin, the prime proponent of the film's randomness, does not move to a predictable plan - he is psychotic enough to kill on a whim, yet never rises above purse-snatching and break-ins. What's interesting is that while Baldwin is the cause of so much random violence towards others, he is at the same time the victim of spontaneous, violent acts. It's not surprising that his dismissive attitude treats everything as if it were a game: Baldwin roleplays confrontations with himself (a la TAXI DRIVER), lies continually, plays cop as soon as he gets hold of a badge, and plays house with Leigh, whom he tells "Call me Junior". It's an appropriate nickname, and Leigh is a suitably ditzy companion for him.
In one picture-postcard scene, Baldwin and Leigh watch couples happily playing with a frisbee against a Miami beach sunset. No sooner have the two of them set up house than they are playing with a frisbee outside on the front lawn. When Leigh, with an older and wiser glint in her eye, tosses the frisbee aside at the film's conclusion, she, for one, knows that the dream is over. Unlike Junior, Ward, world-weary and only one week from retirement, manages to finish what he started. Ward and his world are mundane and orderly, and the antithesis of Baldwin, a character out of sync in a world out of sync. While convention dictates that the cop and his quarry remain separate for the bulk of the film we nevertheless feel a connection between them. Their dinner together, in which Baldwin is cagey but jumpy, and Ward is either dumb or just playing dumb, is a highlight. Baldwin's character is always interesting (how many films have you seen where the criminal accompanies a house burglary with an improvisational haiku?), Leigh somehow manages to play superficiality with a sense of depth, and Ward fits into his role effortlessly. Weird coincidence: Baldwin steals a badge and passes himself off as "Sergeant Mosely". Two years earlier in MIDNIGHT RUN, Robert De Niro steals a badge as passes himself off as "Agent Mosely". Has anybody else noticed this?
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