Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16759 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-05-22
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 107 minutes

Amazon.com
Jonathan Kaplan (The Accused) directed this creepy thriller about an outwardly friendly cop (Ray Liotta) who attaches himself to a married couple (Kurt Russell, Madeleine Stowe) whom he helps during a crisis. In short order, he's revealed to be a psychopath who wants Russell's wife, but the film is about more than Liotta's mental state. A bold script and Kaplan's astute direction peel away the layers of masculine identity in the male leads and underscore the painful conflicts good men feel when faced with classic territorial challenges. This is not as profound as Straw Dogs, but it is honest and provocative, until mayhem overcomes the final act. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Don't call th police!!!!!!
This is a very suspenseful film that is probably Kurt Russell's best & most believeable performances, the film begins with Russell as a self-employed business man who it seems works out of his home putting deals together, Madelyn Stowe is perfect as Russell's wife, & they live a pretty normal life in the L.A. suburbs, then a theif breaks in & holds Stowe hostage with a knife after Russell has a confrontation with him, the man escapes & Russell & Stowe do what any couple would do, call the police & report the incident, Ray Liotta(fresh off GOODFELLAS) is seen here a one of two cops who show up to take the report, it is clear that he is smitten with Stowe & soon befreinds them, at one point him & Russell become close in that Liotta surprises Russell by catching the man who broke into the home, Russell, still angry about the incident is given a chance for payback courtesy of Liotta, but refuses when Liotta gives him the go-ahead for beating the guy, Liotta instead does the deed & Russell senses that Liotta is not all there & decides to cut all ties with him, this is where the worst in Liotta comes out, we discover that he is a loose cannon that even his partner knows but does little to intervine, until Liotta threatens Russell, Liotta messes with Russell in many ways, such as messing with his credit cards, his business deals, & even at one point intruding on him & Stowe as they have sex, he even sets Russell up for a drug bust as a way to get to Stowe, soon Russell is making bail & it is a race against time as he must save his wife from Liotta who at this point is obsessingly deranged, (...)Liotta performance is chilling & one of his best so far.

Superb Thriller, 5 stars.
This movie brings it all: suspense,action,romance and chills! Ray Liotta is amazing as a nice guy cop who slowly falls apart and becomes a delusional lunatic that is obsessed with his newly found freinds wife .Madeline Stowe is great as a bored houswife that falls for Liottas creepy charm despite the warnings of her somewhat helpless but revenge drivin husband played by Kurt Russell who also turns is a heartfelt performance.It all comes to an intense and action packed climax at the end. Liotta steals the show with his uncanny ability to be a warm & charming freind one minute and an ice cold & diabolical killer the next.

shoot to thrill
"Unlawful Entry" came out at a time when Americans were so hungry for those suspenseful, yet rather predictable thrillers. Ray Liotta is Pete, the nice cop who is wound just a bit too tight. Have you ever noticed that all those kooks always start out really nice and then go crazy all of a sudden? That's what makes it so entertaining not to mention funny.

If Ray Liotta was great, then Madeleine Stowe was nearly perfect in this movie. Karen had the personality of Delta Burke, the body of Madonna and the mannerisms of Bea Arthur. So she was a total handful. Karen was such a total drama queen and so over-the-top. The more her hubby told her to stay way from Pete, the more she went running toward him. It wasn't until he had his hand shoved up her skirt did Karen finally realize that Pete was a homocidal maniac. I loved the part in the very beginning when Karen made her grand entrance down the stairs to meet the policemen. You could tell she enjoyed having all eyes on her.

Kurt Russell as Michael Carr was really one of the only totally normal people in this movie. I think my favorite scene with Michael was in the beginning when Karen complaiend that she "can't sleep here." So Michael offered to take her to a hotel. Little did he know, Karen meant she wanted to move! And what woman would not feel safe with Kurt Russell?

What was up with Michael's lawyer, Roger? He was portrayed by Ken Lerner, who some viewers may remember from his bit parts on "90210?" (By the way, speaking of "90210," didn't the Carr's residence look just like the Walsh Home?) Have you ever seen any lawyer do all this? Sure, I've seen a few. They either work for O.J., Michael Jackson or Brit Brit Spears. They don't run around like this for the common man! I suppose that's why this is called a movie, because it's made up.

Officer Pete Davis was such a complete whack-job. I couldn't tell if something set him off (was it the way Karen acted around him, she was obviously very attracted to him,) or was he always like this? I love the part at the nightclub, when Pete shows up unannounced and ruffles Michael's feathers. But the scene with Pete and the hooker in his police car was just so ludicrous because it didn't add anything to the story. We already knew he was a nut and we already knew the level of respect he had for females. BTW, did anyone else think that the blonde hooker looked just like Olivia d'Abo?

When it's apparent to Michael that Pete isn't going away he offers the nut some money to bug off. That doesn't work. So as a last resort Michael goes to Officer Roy Cole (Roger E. Mosley) for help. Officer Roy Cole is Pete's ride-along-buddy, who bragged to Michael when another hooker was buzzing around them, "you see, these b itches can't get enough of us." It really wasn't a very good idea for Officer Roy to confront Pete. Suffice it to say, Pete shut him up in another far-fetched (because any police investigation would uncovered who the real killer was) scheme.

I also found the scene with Karen and Michael doing the nasty very funny. Actually I could not stop laughing when Officer Pete walks in right as Karen is literally straddling Michael. Of course Karen turns around and screams bloody murder, but one cannot help but think that she would have welcomed a menaje trois with Michael and Pete. Kurt Russell was totally believable, as the furious hubby though because there was pure furry in his eyes. He didn't blink once when he screamed to Pete, "get the **** out of my house." And just as Pete was being thrown out, Officer Roy popped his head in to make sure everything was copasetic. So funny because police don't do this.

BTW, what was up with Penny (Deborah Offner,) Karen's colleague? I am referring to the odd expression on her mouth when Karen found her. Her mouth was wiiiiiiide open; it looked like a grapefruit would have fit nicely inside there.

Anyway, the rest of the movie is rather fast-moving if not utterly predictable. I did enjoy it very much and recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys classic suspense films of the early 90's. They just don't do em like this anymore!