The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 33

FILM Friday, October 13, '1995 The Cincinnati Enquirer Another jaded view of sex, murder "A terrific, crowd -pleasing comedy!" -Janet Mulin, THE NEW YORK TIMES "Romantic, charming and engaging!" -Kenneth Turin, LOS ANGELES TIMES "IN? MOVIE REVIEW Jade (R; grisly views of murder victims, violence, language and strong scenes of aberrant sexuality) David Caruso, Linda Fiorentino. 95 minutes. At National Amusements. ran I NOW SHOWING 1. Egs-Baoo I BY MARGARET A.

McGURK The Cincinnati Enquirer On the surface.oife looks like it should be a sexy thriller. Turns out it's just another visit to Joe Eszter-has World, where all the sex is nasty, all the men are corrupt and all the tedium is unbroken. Eszterhas the overpaid writer of Basic Instinct, et al. serves up his usual blend of provocative ingredients whipped into a tasteless slush. You've got a psycho shrink with a penchant for sexual kink, evil power mongers, imperfect lawman, gruesome murder.

Throw them all together and you get a yawn. Talented people had a hand in this movie notably director William Friedkin The French Connection), and actors David Caruso, Chazz Palminteri and Linda Fiorentino but the pointless script sinks their best efforts. Palminteri plays Matt, a jerky high-powered lawyer; Fiorentino is Trina, his nutty psychologist wife; and Caruso is David Corelli, the put-upon old college friend who used to be in love with her. Now he's a prosecutor investigating the gory death of a rich blackmailer. Corelli quickly learns Trina secretly has been visiting a seaside lair to have various forms of sex with other rich guys for the benefit of the blackmailer's camera.

The "mystery" is transparent, but in case you don't figure out what's going on, the heavy-handed clues are repeated over and over. What is never revealed is anything meaningful about the characters. Why is this couple together? Why are these men friends? What's Corelli's relationship with Trina? Stephen VaughanParamount Pictures David Corelli (David Caruso) tries to track down a lead in Jade. And what's up with this woman's hobby of having sex with strangers? Supposedly she's a psychologist, but she shows no curiosity nor offers one word of insight into what drives her to it. The audience is supposed to take her behavior at face value, which makes as much sense as giving us a character who just happens to be a cannibal.

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