← Back to Reviews
in
Mike's Murder
A solid Debra Winger performance notwithstanding, 1984's Mike's Murder is an overbaked salute to film noir that degenerates into a standard damsel-in-distress potboiler thanks to a swiss cheese screenplay and several characters who are dumb as a box of rocks.
Winger plays Betty Parrish, a bank teller who had a one night stand six months ago with a part-time tennis pro and small time drug dealer named Mike (Mark Keyloun) who contacts her again and keeps saying wants to reconnect but keeps standing her up because of some dirty deals that his partner, Pete (Darrell Larson) keeps getting him involved in shady drug deals, one of which actually gets Mike murdered. Betty can't get Mike out of her mind and decides she has to find out exactly what happened to Mike and why.
This film is actually the brainchild of Oscar nominated director/screenwriter James Bridges, who was nominated for The China Syndrome and directed Winger in Urban Cowboy. Casting Winger was the smartest thing Bridges did, because the rest of this movie is a hot mess. There's all kind of stuff going on here that doesn't make sense primarily why Betty is so obsessed with this guy...she had sex with the guy once and then he made a habit out of asking her to go out again and then standing her up. She should have come to her senses after being stood up three or four times, but then as she begins her little investigation, she learns that Mike was once the boy toy of a wealthy, gay record producer. Most women would have closed the book on Mike as soon as they learned that, but not our Betty.
I have to admit I was intrigued by the instant suspense created here just by the film's title. We meet Mike in the opening scene and we already know he's going to die, so why does it take almost 45 minutes for it to happen. Bridges actually telegraphs when it's going to happen during that visual exchange between Mike and Pete when they are trying to decide whether or not to steal some of that cocaine...then somehow Pete ends up holding the cocaine, but Mike is the one that gets murdered? And after hearing about Mike's murder, why would that record producer not get rid of videotape of him fighting with Mike?
Bridges direction does have flashes of style, though a lot of the film is poorly lit and its often hard to tell what's going on, but I suspect that was intentional to create suspense but it just created aggravation for this reviewer. Winger does try to inject some life into this limp murder mystery and Paul Winfield does a classy turn as the record producer, but Keyloun is no actor and Larson is ridiculously over-the-top as Pete. Considering the talent involved on both sides of the camera, a major disappointment.
A solid Debra Winger performance notwithstanding, 1984's Mike's Murder is an overbaked salute to film noir that degenerates into a standard damsel-in-distress potboiler thanks to a swiss cheese screenplay and several characters who are dumb as a box of rocks.
Winger plays Betty Parrish, a bank teller who had a one night stand six months ago with a part-time tennis pro and small time drug dealer named Mike (Mark Keyloun) who contacts her again and keeps saying wants to reconnect but keeps standing her up because of some dirty deals that his partner, Pete (Darrell Larson) keeps getting him involved in shady drug deals, one of which actually gets Mike murdered. Betty can't get Mike out of her mind and decides she has to find out exactly what happened to Mike and why.
This film is actually the brainchild of Oscar nominated director/screenwriter James Bridges, who was nominated for The China Syndrome and directed Winger in Urban Cowboy. Casting Winger was the smartest thing Bridges did, because the rest of this movie is a hot mess. There's all kind of stuff going on here that doesn't make sense primarily why Betty is so obsessed with this guy...she had sex with the guy once and then he made a habit out of asking her to go out again and then standing her up. She should have come to her senses after being stood up three or four times, but then as she begins her little investigation, she learns that Mike was once the boy toy of a wealthy, gay record producer. Most women would have closed the book on Mike as soon as they learned that, but not our Betty.
I have to admit I was intrigued by the instant suspense created here just by the film's title. We meet Mike in the opening scene and we already know he's going to die, so why does it take almost 45 minutes for it to happen. Bridges actually telegraphs when it's going to happen during that visual exchange between Mike and Pete when they are trying to decide whether or not to steal some of that cocaine...then somehow Pete ends up holding the cocaine, but Mike is the one that gets murdered? And after hearing about Mike's murder, why would that record producer not get rid of videotape of him fighting with Mike?
Bridges direction does have flashes of style, though a lot of the film is poorly lit and its often hard to tell what's going on, but I suspect that was intentional to create suspense but it just created aggravation for this reviewer. Winger does try to inject some life into this limp murder mystery and Paul Winfield does a classy turn as the record producer, but Keyloun is no actor and Larson is ridiculously over-the-top as Pete. Considering the talent involved on both sides of the camera, a major disappointment.