A Slight Case of Murder (1999)
In the midst of a spat, film critic Terry Thorpe accidentally kills his lover. Though Thorpe covers his tracks, he raises the suspicions of a private investigator, who then tries to blackmail him. Thorpe also falls under the watchful eye of Detective Fred Stapelli, a cop who is intent on becoming a screenwriter. Before long, Thorpe's girlfriend, Kit, and Stapelli's wife, Patricia, are roped into the case.
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the audience applauded
A waste of 90 minutes of my life
This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.
Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.
CAUTION -- CONTAINS SPOILERS --"A Slight Case of Murder" stars William H. Macy in a role not that different from the car salesman he plays in "Fargo." Here he is a professional movie critic, and often his character speaks at the audience, directly into the camera. Although he has a nice, attractive and devoted girlfriend, he is weak. He is having an affair with a co-worker when she accidentally slips and dies while he is with her. Afraid, he slips away in the night, but is photographed by a PI (James Cromwell, who was the farmer in "Babe") hired by the jealous, separated husband. The PI attempts to blackmail him, and Macy whacks him, eventually disposing of the body parts in a lake over the side of his girlfriend's sailboat while she is fast asleep after he drugs her wine.Meanwhile the detective (Adam Arkin, "Adam" on Northern Exposure) befriends Macy, who ends up having an affair with the detective's wife. At the conclusion, as it appears that Macy will get away with his various transgressions, and is all set to have a happy life with his girlfriend, he comes home and his apartment is overrun with police. The detective has found out about the affair with his wife, decides to plant evidence (back door key, blood on shoes) to frame Macy in retaliation for seducing his wife, not for a second thinking he is really guilty.As the movie ends, and Macy is being taken away in a cop car, he says, "If you ever decide to commit murder -- and I don't recommend that you do -- don't complicate matters by getting involved with the detective's wife." Macy co-wrote the screenplay, and plays the main character very well. For good entertainment, and a moderate amount of suspense, I rate it "7" of 10.
Okay, I love Bill Macy, who's invariably fun to watch, with those pouchy eyes and that "please don't kick me again" expression-- or maybe it's "please don't kick me again so hard." And I love Donald Westlake, one of the best writers of light capers on the scene today. Westlake wrote the novel on which this is based, which I seem to recall reading as "Enough," not "A Travesty," which is what it says in the credits. The combination of these two guys is inspired, all the better in that Macy co-wrote the adaptation and tailored the lead precisely to his acting strengths. Macy just looks like a typical Westlake hero-- only, as one of the other characters points out, he really can't be the hero if he's killed his girlfriend, even accidentally. And he's not really the hero, I guess, although you do sort of root for him. Macy plays Jerry Thorpe, a not-very-nice TV film critic, whose attempts to evade the consequences of committing an accidental murder get more and more involved as the plot thickens. It's an anti-Columbo, where we follow the criminal, not the cop, and wonder when and how he's going to blow it. Macy's stayed true to the book, adding a lot of character touches and a couple of nifty flourishes. He even includes a funny reference to one of his own previous pictures, "Searching for Bobby Fischer." I guess, for me, the fun was just watching Macy have so much fun in a leading role-- like Steve Buscemi, he's a terrific character actor who rarely gets the chance to carry a film. He carries this one, and I hope to see him carry more.
I saw this last night at a screening for a marketing company. It is Fargoesque, and was a lot of fun to watch. It held my attention all the way through and did not seem to lag at all. I'd recommend watching it when it airs!
Turner and friends are closing in on HBO for the top spot among made-for-TV movie producers. This is a nicely paced, contemplative thriller of sorts. William Macy is stellar, as always, and Adam Arkin offers one of his better performances. A bit more lively than classic Hitchcock but not as in-your-face as typical movies of its type, A Slight Case of Murder eases you in and never lets go. (Note: I saw a preview copy, which means I didn't have to wait through commercials. Those interruptions may hurt the pacing, but you know this will be available on video sometime