Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #68051 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-12-05
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 115 minutes

Amazon.com
Alan Rudolph's "screwball film noir" (his definition) is a bit like Choose Me cast with buffoons--a handsome, smoothly directed, shaggy-dog mystery populated by thoroughly offbeat characters. Emily Watson plays malaprop-spewing, gum-chewing Trixie Zurbo, a security guard who wants to be a private detective. It's kind of like Gracie Allen trying to play Lauren Bacall in a Bogey film with a babble of mangled clichés and screwy punch lines. A shaggy, small-time thug wannabe (Dermot Mulroney) drags her into a mystery involving a smarmy, double-talking senator (Nick Nolte), a boozy past-her-prime showgirl (Lesley Anne Warren), and a blackmail scheme that ends up in murder. As a mystery it's less hard-boiled than over easy, but the performers go to town with the material. Nolte brilliantly rants an incoherent brand of political doublespeak, and Nathan Lane is patter perfect as a small- time entertainer delivering one-liners with a weary, wounded smile. At almost two hours it's a long road with meanders and detours, offering little payoff beyond the time spent with Rudolph's endearing out-of-time characters. This may prove mystifying and insubstantial to viewers who like a little more shape to their stories, but fans of Rudolph's quirky brand of filmmaking will find it well worth the trip. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Very enjoyable mystery
It is a pleasure to watch and listen to this movie very carefully to get all of the humor -- stay focused or you will miss a lot. Though you are laughing about this charming and interesting cast of misfits and semi-morons, you never really laugh at them as you try to work your way through Trixie's muddled haze to figure out who did what.

All the actors play their best known and acclaimed character roles to the hilt, never disappointing. Emily Watson is wonderful as the malapropped mystery solver -- who can play a wise simpleton better? Who can beat Nathan Lane as a cynical washed-up entertainer, never failing to impersonate, charm, and see through the act. Nick Nolte plays the sleezy, cynical, Senator, lampooning politicians saying nothing while always dazzling. Dermot Mulroney shines as the sexy simple not-so-good would-be gigolo with a heart. Who can play the sexy simpleton vamp better than Leslie Ann Warren? Ruby Pearli is captivating as the wannabe star lounging her way into and out of the mystery and notereity. There are too many other actors to name that add so much to this movie.

The camera work with mirrors is amazing and mesmerizing.

An enjoyable escape -- one of those movies you will enjoy the more often you watch it.

Weak story with numerous funny lines
One needs a certain warped sense of humor to enjoy this film. Trixie (Emily Watson) is a self proclaimed "Private Defective" whose butchery of English is nothing short of cleavacle. Her command of idioms is not as bad as it is worse. She is Norm Crosby taken to the tenth powder. She mixes semaphores with a high-speed blender. Her malapropriations are so funny they border on historical.

The writing of Trixie's dialogue by Alan Rudolph is extremely clever, but the story that surrounds it is very quirky, constantly meandering off point. I'm not a big fan of Rudolph's wry style of directing, but this film actually has its moments. Some of the things that pop out of Trixie's mouth are priceless. I found myself tolerating the boring story to hear what she would say next.

Emily Watson's performance is excellent. She gives Trixie a naïve charm and gritty determination that is fun to watch. It is hard to fathom how she is able to say her lines with a straight face. Her Chicago accent is horrendous though. Nathan Lane also gives a tragically droll performance and Nick Nolte is absurdly humorous in his caricature of the corrupt state senator.

This film was pounded by almost everyone, but I like this kind of word gymnastics, so I enjoyed it despite itself. I rated it a 6/10. If you can appreciate a punny character without much of a story, it might be worth a try.

Great dialogue
Trixie is a uneducated and seemingly naîve, but surprisingly effective cop, who basically speaks in mangled metaphors and expressions.

"I believe in taking the bull by the tail and staring him right in the eye."

"No, you can't have a drink, you are not drinking yourself into Bolivia."