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A Slight Case Of Murder
Here's another movie (well, a TV movie) based on a novel by Donald Westlake. A Slight Case
Of Murder won a Mystery Writers Of America Edgar Allan Poe Award last month, and deservedly
so. William H. Macy (who co-wrote this adaptation) stars as a film critic suspected of
murdering his girlfriend, who finds himself lurching from social disaster to moral dilemma when
he's blackmailed by a corrupt private eye (James Cromwell). Naturally, as a movie reviewer,
Macy's character knows every variation of crime mystery dramas, and while he's talking to
camera, getting into bed with a cop's wife, and creating a bigger mess each time he solves a
minor problem, this assuredly witty satire on film noir detective stories is both wonderfully
intriguing and marvellously entertaining. Adam Arkin's stoical homicide investigator and would
be screenwriter makes a perfect foil for Macy's determinedly erratic but sympathetic
protagonist. The knowing sense of irony that underscores a string of unexpected plot twists and
turns eventually leads us to an ending that's satisfactory, without being the least bit
preachy. DOWSE
Guide to the Movies
is
compiled by Tony
Lee editor of Pigasus Press Movies
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