It's the only movie that I can think of when I instantly knew who the killer was. It is in the scene after the plot kicks in, this is a spoiler, but someone dies. Dennis Quaid and Daniel Stern is sitting in Dexter's office and drinking.
Since Dexter has quite the drinking problem, we are supposed to assume that he could have gotten the "Mickey" from anyplace. We are set up to believe that he got it from Meg Ryan's character, Sydney. Dexter even gets that idea. But from that one scene it is pretty obvious who did it.
Now for the why do we care part. Quaid is a gifted performer, who never really got his due. I think, that his career took a downward turn after he played Jerry Lee Lewis, maybe the worst biopic ever made. I liked it at the time, but after having seen 20 or more of the same genre, I can definitely say that it is the most untrue to life bio ever made.
Enough of that. Quaid is actually quite good here but the mechanisms of the plot weigh him down from nearly the beginning. As a mystery we are given too many distractions and it takes us a long time to get to the climax.
There are a few good spots in between. The scenes with Charlotte Rampling as a Black Widow type and her little overprotective chauffeur. He is quite the character, extremely violent but always polite. May I break your neck with this 2*4, please? Sorry, that line is not in the movie but it could be if they made a spoof of this film.
Since I knew what was coming, I would have preferred if they cut at least 10 minutes from the end. There is an extremely poor fight sequence at the end.
Still, if you wanna see Dennis Quaid in one of his best parts it's definitely worth a look. He wouldn't get a choice one again for years.
Since Dexter has quite the drinking problem, we are supposed to assume that he could have gotten the "Mickey" from anyplace. We are set up to believe that he got it from Meg Ryan's character, Sydney. Dexter even gets that idea. But from that one scene it is pretty obvious who did it.
Now for the why do we care part. Quaid is a gifted performer, who never really got his due. I think, that his career took a downward turn after he played Jerry Lee Lewis, maybe the worst biopic ever made. I liked it at the time, but after having seen 20 or more of the same genre, I can definitely say that it is the most untrue to life bio ever made.
Enough of that. Quaid is actually quite good here but the mechanisms of the plot weigh him down from nearly the beginning. As a mystery we are given too many distractions and it takes us a long time to get to the climax.
There are a few good spots in between. The scenes with Charlotte Rampling as a Black Widow type and her little overprotective chauffeur. He is quite the character, extremely violent but always polite. May I break your neck with this 2*4, please? Sorry, that line is not in the movie but it could be if they made a spoof of this film.
Since I knew what was coming, I would have preferred if they cut at least 10 minutes from the end. There is an extremely poor fight sequence at the end.
Still, if you wanna see Dennis Quaid in one of his best parts it's definitely worth a look. He wouldn't get a choice one again for years.