firstdegree

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First Degree (1995)

Director: Jeff Woolnough

Writer: Ron Base

Cast: Rob Lowe, Leslie Hope, Joseph Griffin

Character: Amos Turzo

Billing: 3rd

Plot: A businessman is shot in the back in gang territory, and hotshot detective Rick Mallory sets out to find the killer. However, things are looking a little too easy, Rick's falling in love with the dead man's wife, and his ex-partner is convinced that she did it.

Review: First Degree is, to all intents and purposes, a film of missed opportunities. Given that it has now been proved beyond all reasonable doubt that Rob Lowe can actually act when he's given a decent script, the combination of Mr. Lowe, Tom, and a few interesting spins on the standard detective movie surely couldn't have been expected to come off as badly as this. Its worst sin is not that it's wildly implausible, because if it's about two in the morning you might just believe it all, but that it takes a manic concoction of possible killers, Mafia connections, double crosses, and this Jewish author guy who keeps popping up for no apparent reason, and still manages to be boring. The only respite from this is in the last ten minutes, where the cast and crew obviously decided to hang it all and do a parody of the first eighty. That said, there are some good scenes, and probably this would have done much better as an hour-long drama. Tom, as Rick's long suffering partner, has a couple of decent moments, but the script just isn't there. Personally, I gave up and just started cheering every time Amos came onscreen.

Trivia: Supposed to be New York, but actually Toronto. Rick Mallory has got to be one of the few teetotal detectives around (are your alarm bells going off yet folks?). One of the few good bits is where a slightly drunk Amos regales his friends with a critique of a cop movie he saw once (it wouldn't be I Love A Man In Uniform, would it?). Leslie Hope is also in The Spreading Ground.

Tom Quotes: "You're gonna love this one" (first line of the movie).