Guilty as Sin (1993)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Sidney Lumet

Writer (WGA):

Larry Cohen (written by)

Release Date:

4 June 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

A female lawyer takes an accused wife-murderer as a client, but finds herself morally compelled to betray him one way or another.

Plot Keywords:

Female Lawyer | Kitchen Scene | Bathrobe | Bar Scene | Womanizer

Cast

Rebecca De Mornay	...	Jennifer Haines
Don Johnson	...	David Edgar Greenhill
Stephen Lang	...	Phil Garson
Jack Warden	...	Moe
Dana Ivey	...	Judge D. Tompkins
Ron White	...	Prosecutor DiAngelo
Norma Dell'Agnese	...	Emily, Jennifer's Assistant
Sean McCann	...	Nolan, Greenhill's Doorman
Luis Guzmán	...	Lt. Martinez
Robert Kennedy	...	Caniff
James Blendick	...	McMartin
Tom Butler	...	D.A. Heath
Christina Grace	...	Miriam Langford (as Christina Baren)
Lynne Cormack	...	Esther Rothman
Barbara Eve Harris	...	Kathleen Bigelow

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:14 | Iceland:16 (video rating) | South Korea:18 | Philippines:R-18 | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-14 | Germany:16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Hollywood Pictures

Goofs:

Continuity: Jennifer Haines (Rebecca De Mornay) is having dinner with her friend, Moe (Jack Warden). He fills her plate with spaghetti and sits down with the serving dish. His plate is clearly empty. In the next two shots, he has a full plate of food.

Quotes:

David Greenhill: See, people like us Miriam, we're - we're warm. But she's a - she's an attorney.

Movie Connections:

References Dial M for Murder (1954)

Ludicrous psychological thriller with a good score and a few good moments

There's a big laugh in the middle of this contrived psychological thriller. I won't give it away, because it's easily the best moment in the film. It's the scene in a bar with Don Johnson, and it sketches in his character more brilliantly than anything before or after. You'll know it when you see it.

Well, if you see it. If the script had displayed that kind of wit throughout, this movie would be a must-see. As it is, there is too little that makes it memorable and too much that makes it hard to suspend disbelief.

Rebecca De Mornay plays a flashy criminal defense attorney who does her job with spectacular cunning – even for the most unsavory defendants. But her newest client (Don Johnson) is not just unsavory. He could be dangerous enough to kill her.

The first thing you'll notice is Howard Shore's excellent score during the title sequence. It's silky and sinister and immediately draws you in (despite the tacky-looking computer graphic that accompanies it). Next, the film looks really good. Sidney Lumet – who also gave us "Twelve Angry Men," "The Verdict" and many other terrific movies – knows how to direct a good courtroom thriller. And what a courtroom. The photographer, Andrzej Bartkowiak, makes the most of this spacious green-marble set.

An early scene is promising. Don Johnson glides into De Mornay's office and asks her to take his case, brazenly confessing that he's a womanizer and a gigolo – yet innocent of throwing his wife out of a skyscraper window. She refuses at first, but Johnson's boyish egotism is too hypnotically fascinating.

But later, both actors falter. De Mornay makes several bad choices in her performance, playing too many scenes like a frightened rabbit. Johnson has a scene in his apartment, where he makes a sandwich with a long kitchen knife that he winds up waving in De Mornay's face. His character loses control, but so does the actor. Johnson looks and sounds ridiculous.

But the main problem is the script from schlock-horror director Larry Cohen. First, there's Jack Warden's character, a father figure to De Mornay, who comes off as purely functional. He's there to do things De Mornay's character cannot, and we don't give a damn about him, not even when he winds up in danger.

Second, De Mornay ends up framing her own client, an enormously risky endeavor that could easily destroy her career and even send her to prison. Why? Presumably to protect herself and other women from Johnson. But the movie fails to convince us she has no saner options.

Third, there's the woman who becomes a last-minute witness for the defense. I won't give away too much, but her motivation for doing what she does is totally inscrutable.

Lastly, there's the gruesome climax. It plays ludicrously, though De Mornay is allowed one last, good moment. Her hysteria at the peak of her ordeal is touchingly real. Otherwise, the whole thing feels forced and phony.

So does the movie.