Jagged Edge

What a bummer guys.  I had high hopes for this one and it let me down.  I initially thought that the combination of Joe Eszterhas and Return of the Jedi director Richard Marquand would be a great combo but it was not to be.

The problem with Jagged Edge is that it’s boring.  It’s more of a courtroom drama than a sexy thriller but I don’t want you to get me wrong ‘cause I dig courtroom dramas.  It’s just that this one plays out in a pretty uninteresting way.  It’s very formulaic, flat and uneventful.  And most of the ending you can see coming a mile away like who the killer is and how a bunch of the events are going to unfold.

The only thing that I really liked about this movie was Robert Loggia (Scarface, and he was fucking fantastic in Lost Highway:

).  He plays Glenn Close’s (I think this is the least man-ish I’ve seen her by the way) assistant and he curses a lot, lives in a shitty filthy apartment, is crass and belligerent but goddamnit he’s the best damn investigative assistant in the business.  He’s also the wise old sage that tries to steer Close in making the right decisions and reminding her to not let her emotions for Jeff Bridges (who’s on trial) get in the way of the case.  He has all the best lines like when Glen Close asks if his mother ever washed his mouth out with soap he replies, “yeah, but it didn’t do any fuckin’ good”.  Loggia’s good but I don’t think it’s worth seeing the movie just for him.

Alright I’ll also admit that Peter Coyote (Sphere, Prohibition) gives a good performance as the jerkoff prosecutor that’s trying to nail Bridges.  He seems to enjoy being such an asshole and I like that.  He also has a good but weird line: “The guy had a rap sheet as long as my dick.”  Now I’m a little confused by this.  Does he mean that the guy had a really long rap sheet like Coyote’s trying to say that he has a huge rod?  Or did the guy have a very short rap sheet and Coyote’s being humble about the size of his meat stick?  Whatever.

Now don’t get upset with me but I thought Return of the Jedi was kinda boring so it makes sense that this would be also.  These films do have a similar feel in the pacing like you want them to speed up and get shit rolling.  Marquand seems to take care with the beginning of his pictures but then loses interest quickly, has very little happen in the middle of the movie and then regains a small jolt of energy for the end.  This was Eszterhas’ first attempt at a sexy thriller/murder mystery type script and also just his third screenplay so I guess he hadn’t quite figured out how to do this type of plot yet.  Jagged Edge feels more like an exercise than anything else.  It’s the most standard whodunit/courtroom drama you could come up with.  Plus it’s light on the sex and light on the thrills.  So double whammy on this one.  I’d say skip it.

Sex Scenes: One.

After Sex Scenes: One, I think.

Strange Cameos: Lance Henriksen (Hard Target, Survival Quest) plays a cop and is in this for maybe two minutes.

James Karen plays Bridges’ main lawyer.  He’s been in a ton of shit but I think I’ll always remember him from The Return of the Living Dead I & II.