Search - Shadow of Doubt on DVD

Miscast, Misdirected, Mistake

Julie A. Elliott | Calif., USA | 04/06/2000

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Let's see, where to start. Melanie Griffith is supposed to be one of the best, toughest, smartest defense attorneys in the city, but acts more like a former stripper playing at being a recent law school grad. I guess seductive whispers, a slinky walk, and tepid one-line comebacks are all it takes to free rapist/killers. Realism is non-existent as she voluntarily gives away key information/evidence to the DA and her powerful adversaries before the trial even starts. Her crack investigative team manages to stumble across valuable clues at the drop of a hat without even a trace of intelligent, logical, deductive reasoning or sleuthing. The dialog is absolutely inane, including an awful scene where this supposedly hard-boiled attorney (Griffith) who has successfully defended the scum of the earth, suddenly realizes a full five minutes into the interrogation of her client (a major slimeball) that she believes his story--that he was just having kinky sex, slapping his date around, and didn't really kill the girl--and starts crying at this realization. Supposed to be touching I'm sure, but instead it was so out of place and baffling, I cringed while laughing. In addition there's this weird, pointless side story about a former client whom she got acquitted, then slept with, only to find out he was actually guilty of rape all along. Throughout the movie he repeatedly calls her and taunts her through her answering machine causing her to listen for several minutes before unplugging it, or turning it off, or throwing it against the wall, but never doing anything that makes sense, like changing her phone number. Even this elicits no real emotion from her, she basically sleepwalks through the movie. But, worst of all, this movie is boring--no suspense, no thrills, and I didn't care one bit about the fortunes of any of the characters. I have really liked Griffith in several recent movies and do not understand this one at all, except that she's just horribly miscast--as is everyone in this film. In fact, why I even devoted this much time in reviewing this escapes me--except maybe I'll save someone a few bucks and a couple of wasted hours."

Bleah. Interesting up to a point, but still, a dud.

skunktrain | So. California, USA | 10/27/2002

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I was a stupid dolt and actually thought this was a re-make of the Theresa Wright film "Shadow of A Doubt". But I misread the title. My stupid mistake.The plot was a typical murder mystery, and while it was not the best told tale, I was interested in finding out "who dunnit". So I stuck around until the end. But there were many elements to this film that I found flawed, or just irritating. And then there was the cast. I like Melanie Griffith. I like Tom Berenger. However, they could not redeem this film. Melanie Griffith came off as self concious of her beauty and "super confident"--which grated on my nerves after a while. Berenger was fine in the role he had, but he didn't get a lot screen time. He really should have been billed as a supporting actor, but the impression I got from the film's advertising was that he was a CO-star. His role wasn't all that big (it was important, but not that big). Supporting actor Huey Lewis got more screen time than Berenger! (Not that I minded--I like Lewis.)It was nice seeing Nina Foch working again too. She's been around forever, and still has what it takes to give a good performance. Also, nice score by Joel Goldsmith (Jerry Goldsmith's son). Still, I wouldn't recommend this film. Rent it if you must.If you are a big Griffith fan, you might be tempted, but this is certainly not her best roll. Tom Berenger fans will be disappointed--his part isn't all that interesting."

RUN OF THE MILL THRILLS, SAVED BY STARS

skunktrain | 04/17/1999

(2 out of 5 stars)

""Shadow of Doubt" sounded very intriguing on its back cover. To boot, it also starred Melanie Griffith and Tom Berenger. It's a classy production, great visuals, dialogue and interesting story. The thriller is about a laywer (Griffith) who is defending a young man accused of raping and killing a young woman. She believes the man is innocent, unlike fellow lawyer, Tom Berenger. Soon a politician's family gets wound up in the murders, and the lawyer must seek out information. Craig Sheffer (A River Runs Through It) also stars as a past client of Griffith's, who is a former raper too. Singer, Huey Lewis also stars in the film as does James Morrison and John Ritter (Bride of Chucky). You have seen all this before in films like "Kiss the Girls" and "The Gingerbread Man", but this one suffers because it's just too long, causing you to fall alseep after half way.zzzzzzzzzzzzzz......"

COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER

Michael Butts | Martinsburg, WV USA | 06/03/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Randal Kleiser, the director of this average melodrama, is also the man who directed the classic movie, GREASE. Hard to believe that he could go from such a high energy classic to such a low key, ultimately average thriller.
Melanie Griffith plays rather vapidly a high profile defense attorney who has just gotten city councilman John Ritter off of a rap. Earlier in her career, however, Griffith got an accused rapist, played with fearless ham by Craig Sheffer, off and found out later while in bed with him that he did rape the girl.
Tom Berenger plays Jack, Griffith's ex husband, who is also the prosecuting attorney in the murder trial of a rising rap singer who Griffith is defending.
Nina Foch chews up the scenery as the presidential hopeful's mother, and Wade Dominguez underplays the accused rap singer whose rap songs are far from what one would call good.
At any rate, the movie moves along at a predictable pace and we know that there's more to the killing than meets the eye.By the way, singer Huey Lewis does a pretty good job as Griffith's PI; he at least has some life to him
I Don't know whether Griffith played low key to show her inner strength, but she actually looks totally bored.
Not a waste of time, but it could have been so much better."