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Guilty as Sin (1993)

Director:
Sidney Lumet
COUNTRY
USA
GENRE
Thriller/Crime
NORWEGIAN TITLE
-
RUNNING TIME
107 minutes
Producer:
Martin Ransohoff
Screenwriter:
Larry Cohen


Cast includes:

CHARACTER ACTOR/ACTRESS RATING
Jennifer Haines Rebecca DeMornay
David Greenhill Don Johnson
Moe Jack Warden
Phil Stephen Lang ½
Detective Martinez Luis Guzman
Judge Dana Ivey
DiAngelo Ron White
Kathleen Bigelow Barbara Eve Harris
Ed Lombardo John Kapelos

 

Review

Veteran director Sidney Lumet's direction in the unerotic thriller Guilty as Sin is a bad combination of sloppy and out of date. He seems to have had no belief that his film could work on any other level than as a melodramatic guilty pleasure at best, and that's also exactly what the film has to offer - for as long as it's able to keep the pace up. Unfortunately, Guilty as Sin doesn't have neither the nerve nor eroticism of its more successful sister Basic Instinct - maybe because Don Johnson's David Greenhill isn't the sexy counterpart of Sharon Stone's Catherin Tramell, but rather a spoiled, sulking diva. Well, at least he's having fun with his part, which is more than can be said about the totally uncomfortable Rebecca de Mornay, who seems horny when she's supposed to be scared, and forced when she's supposed to be tough. You may be able to enjoy this film for a while if you want to, it has that curious, cheap 1990s appeal, but in the end, there's not much in here which makes a lasting impression one way or the other.

Copyright © 3.8.2011 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang

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