GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1996 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 2.5 Alternative Scale: * out of ****
United States, 1996 U.S. Release Date: 4/12/96 (limited) Running Length: 1:31 MPAA Classification: R (Mature themes, sex) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Dan Aykroyd, Lily Tomlin, Jack Lemmon, Bonnie Hunt, Brian Kerwin Director: Harvey Miller Producers: Penny Marshall and Frank Price Screenplay: Harvey Miller Cinematography: Frank Tidy Music: John Debney U.S. Distributor: Savoy Pictures
Some movies are ruined in post-production. Many more are destroyed during filming. A still greater number are undone in the script-writing process. I'm not sure exactly when GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER should have been relegated to the scrap heap, but it was probably while the premise was being developed into the final screenplay. With the right tone and intent, it's possible to make a bitingly funny film about a grave issue. Unfortunately, GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER wants to be light and airy, not dark and incisive. It shrinks from risks that might alienate a casual viewer, and, by its very blandness and adherence to "traditional" structure, crosses the line of dubious taste into the realm of the offensive.
I suppose someone thought this was a funny idea: let's have Jack Lemmon play a seventysomething old man who may or may not be an ex-Nazi, and who is currently living in Brighton, Massachusetts. His neighbor, ethics professor Jack Lambert (Dan Aykroyd), is horrified that this Max Mueller, apparently the infamous "Beast of Berkau", can continue living with impunity. Since the U.S. government appears powerless to execute a fifty-year old death sentence, Jack decides to do it on his own by injecting Max's prize apples with cyanide. Death follows quickly, but, after Max is buried, new evidence comes to light which apparently clears the dead man's name. So, in an attempt to assuage his guilty conscience, Jack cancels his wedding to his girlfriend (Bonnie Hunt) so that he can marry Max's daughter, Inga (Lily Tomlin).
Sounds like a barrel of laughs, right? The script, which is credited to director Harvey Miller (who wrote PRIVATE BENJAMIN), is peppered with attempts at levity, but few of these jokes have any zing. Most of the time, the humor comes across as halfhearted, which leaves us wondering what this film was aiming for. GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER is too fatuous and superficial to have any dramatic impact, and all of its supposed "twists" are hackneyed and predictable.
When was the last time Dan Aykroyd actually did a good job in a movie? His recent career has been littered with moronic comic roles (SGT. BILKO, EXIT TO EDEN) and supporting parts in light dramas (MY GIRL). This time around, he appears to be going through the motions with even less gusto than usual. Not that his co-stars outshine him. Jack Lemmon and Lily Tomlin are both depressingly unfunny. Only Bonnie Hunt, who displays fitful bursts of energy, makes any kind of positive impression.
At one point during GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER, Jack muses that "you don't kill 700,000 and get away with it." As I was watching this movie, I wondered how anyone could make such a lame picture about this serious subject and get away with it, or why a producer would expect more from this limp screenplay than a complete failure -- which is precisely what resulted.
- James Berardinelli e-mail: berardin@bc.cybernex.net web: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin
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