Simply Perfect

A Masterpiece!

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Ross MacDonald detective yarn becomes above-average TV-made vehicle for Farrah Fawcett, playing lawyer from the Los Angeles Public Defenders office who is assigned an assembly-line case of a naive nurse arrested for trafficking stolen goods that quickly turns into a complicated web of murder, kidnapping, and another out of work actor in Hollywood gone wrong. Modern-day pulp amusingly retains all the standard noir clichés (saxophones on the soundtrack, stern yet wistful voice-over at the beginning and end, a glove compartment full of old parking tickets, et al.). Fawcett is appealingly tough yet personable in the lead; A Martinez, as a cop who helps Farrah solve the case, is appropriately hunky but questionable as a credible love-interest (scowling throughout, he's more dangerous-seeming than romantic); Cliff DeYoung, never a strong actor, does all right as a judge. The film has some puzzling red herrings, an overly-complicated second-half--with too many fishy characters--yet the L.A. locations are well-captured and the gritty script has sharp dialogue.

Farrah Fawcett and A. Martinez star in this sweaty thriller that's pretty edgy for a tv film. Not yet available on video, catch this if you can on cable for a twisty plot. Fawcett is a lawyer and Martinez is the sexy cop trying to protect her with her latest case.

Overly involved mildly interesting crime plot with a contrived, trite, and uninteresting subplot involving a romantic relationship between the main character and a cop. Occasionally nice photos of buildings in LA area.Altogether, a waste of time. 4* out of 10*.