[Possible spoilers]
Ellen Barkin is one of the most radiantly sexy women that Hollywood has seen (but has not always used well!). This film, unfortunately, is another example where she is not used well. The production designer did a superb job, and costumes, apartments, offices, and outdoors scenes are strikingly gorgeous. But the scriptwriter evidently put in no effort into this production. The plot concerns a chemical company sued for causing pollution-related injuries, yet evidently they were so naive as to not carry liability insurance. A person who has never used a gun before outguns two ex-CIA operatives. A corrupt Washington State judge is a character out of some 19th century morality play. The film is set in Seattle but filmed in Vancouver. It was deemed sufficient to put up a "Seattle Hot Dogs" stand to create that illusion...fat chance.
The "romance" between Barkin and Fishburne is a joke--they seem to share as much in common as fish and fowl. In addition, Barkin does not get to show any skin in her sex scenes in this prudish movie. For that matter, I'm not even sure these scenes were not optical overlays--there is that little interaction between characters. But the basic problem is that there are no sympathetic characters, nor even any good guys that later go bad. Everyone is just triple-crossing everyone else. Why should we care?
Go see Siesta, Big Easy, Sea of Love, or Mercy to see Barkin in good roles, instead.
Ellen Barkin is one of the most radiantly sexy women that Hollywood has seen (but has not always used well!). This film, unfortunately, is another example where she is not used well. The production designer did a superb job, and costumes, apartments, offices, and outdoors scenes are strikingly gorgeous. But the scriptwriter evidently put in no effort into this production. The plot concerns a chemical company sued for causing pollution-related injuries, yet evidently they were so naive as to not carry liability insurance. A person who has never used a gun before outguns two ex-CIA operatives. A corrupt Washington State judge is a character out of some 19th century morality play. The film is set in Seattle but filmed in Vancouver. It was deemed sufficient to put up a "Seattle Hot Dogs" stand to create that illusion...fat chance.
The "romance" between Barkin and Fishburne is a joke--they seem to share as much in common as fish and fowl. In addition, Barkin does not get to show any skin in her sex scenes in this prudish movie. For that matter, I'm not even sure these scenes were not optical overlays--there is that little interaction between characters. But the basic problem is that there are no sympathetic characters, nor even any good guys that later go bad. Everyone is just triple-crossing everyone else. Why should we care?
Go see Siesta, Big Easy, Sea of Love, or Mercy to see Barkin in good roles, instead.