Why so much hype?

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The main problem I had with this is that the real killer was somewhat obvious from the beginning. Also, it was DEFINITELY obvious by the halfway mark because you know the cast of actors and you're just wondering why the REAL star hasn't had much screen time and when we find out he did by trying to act up a flourish it was like DUH! Other things... I like Ashley Judd, but in this she somehow is elevated to investigator although she has an obvious alcohol problem and looks hung over a lot at work. None of her coworkers or her boss didn't notice? I could deal with her having so many one night stands, but when they turn up murdered, isn't she supposed to be a detective? And if she was concerned she was the killer, WHY would she tell everyone on the force after one lover after another of hers showed up dead?!?! You'd think she'd keep her mouth shut! Also, I mentioned her alcohol problem above, but she seemingly goes into a blackout every time a murder occurs. If you were her don't you think you'd go a little easy on the red wine until the end of the investigation? And, I'm a pretty accomplished drinker, and I know what's enough to buzz me, to get me drunk, and I've only blacked out a couple of times. You think she wouldn't figure out that something was UP with that wine???? Sheesh. So the idea that she was being drugged didn't really occur to me because if I had a few glasses of wine or an entire bottle or two and blacked out I'd still know something was wrong because you know how much does what to your system. So I just assumed that she WAS drinking enough to black out.Andy Garcia has really gotten puffy. I remembered him as being really attractive at one point.In all, it isn't awful, and if you like thrillers and whodunit's it is somewhat watchable. I made it through to the end. Just know that you probably had it figured out just from the cast list from the beginning.

Not even close to the best movie I've seen, but certainly better than one star level either. I gave it a 5, because it kept me interested enough to keep watching, and added the +1 for the fact that the "whodunnit" efforts were well played, without being totally random in the end. About 15 minutes into the movie, and somewhat compelled by an attractive San Francisco Bay opening, I was convinced that this would be a 7+ for me. The framework and plot are respectable, and the cast is A+, which however, seems to prove that you can't give a quality cast a pathetic dialogue and expect even great actors to make poor scripting sound better. The script is outright campy. Some have described this, and a few other boneheaded aspects, as seeming almost comical or spoofish of similar movies. Seriously! I'm not a picky critic, but these flaws were a bit distracting. In summary, the movie starts off deceptively strong, sags in the middle (about 40 minutes worth), and then picks back up with a relatively solid finish.

This film did sport an A list cast including Ashley Judd (Double Jeopardy), Andy Garcia, and Samual L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction). Judd plays inspector Shepherd, who has just recently been promoted to homicide, and Jackson plays the man that raised her, because her parents were killed when she was young. Andy Garcia is her new partner. I was not a big fan of Andy Garcia in this film, I thought he over acted in many scenes, and it looked fake and cheep, also Judd and Garcia didn't have any on screen chemistry at all. I thought Ashley did a good job on screen, I just think Garcia's character would've better played by another actor. Jackson did a great job with his role, I think he was perfectly cast. The dialogue was okay, not great, and the action scenes were constructed pretty well. I liked how Judd's character kept flashing back to the night she has sex with the victims, and wondering if she might be responsible. There were some parts in the middle I felt sorta dragged on a bit. I think the twist ending was pretty clever, it wasn't like completely life altering, but it sufficed. I liked how this film showed some sex between Judd and the victims, but not too much, the sex wasn't too graphic, and only had a single shot of nudity from the back of a male. Also, the violence and gore wasn't graphic either. 4/10 overall.

Rarely do I watch movies and actually get mad because they are so dumb. This movie managed to do that for me, and had me fast aghast at the lines being read. We got a really good cop, who is so good that , at parties she Impresses people with a party trick, that involves her remembering every minor detail of people and places that she hasn't been told to study. This cop gets a big promotion because she single handed took down a notorious serial killer. Bodies start showing up with the same M.Os and around this time, our cop, who is a borderline alcoholic starts to mysteriously pass out every time she drinks a glass of red wine. (She isn't alarmed) We also become aware that she has had one night stands with each of the victims of the serial killer. (She now starts to think she is actually a serial killer instead of become suspicious of a cop that she dated who is a total jerk and obsessed with her in a really creepy kind of way.) No. That guy never makes the suspect pool. And she keeps on drinking the wine , despite really bad experiences after one glass. I won't spoil the entire affair, but I will sum up with a totally ludicrous villain ( that made no sense at all, it's like the writer was like, "who can I pick, that no one will suspect because in real life, they would never do it, and it would defy all kinds of logic and rational thought ?") But the writer does pick that impossible person, and this film is so cheese ball that at the end, he does that thing where the killer decides to tell the cop his life story and the motive and solve the entire mystery for our dumb audience .. This film is so ridiculous on so many levels. Watch it if you want to laugh. How much money did the studio waste on this, when they could've picked some unknown writers script and launched him into a career ? Because I know every single other option was miles better than this one. It's funny. The end is classic. I was kinda sad to see Andy Garcia in this one, though. He is a talented guy.. Ashley Judd never was an actress, you can tell she has paid a lot of money to become one, with acting lessons and on set coaches, but her "talent" is bought and paid for.. Like most newer actresses these days with pretty faces. On film, any poor loser can work, with a good acting coach, editing , good co stars. And if everyone else is doing their good well. Hilarious. Truly. (Tapping forehead) "Why did they spend so much money to make this movie again?" She must know someone, this writer. She must be like Speilbergs kid.