HOMICIDE

I saw the original National Theatre production of 'Glengarry Glen Ross' and it blew my socks off. So I'm always happy to watch a film written by David Mamet, even those he also directed such as 'House of Games' or 'The Spanish Prisoner'.  Usually they have an intriguing plot, unusual characters, and great dialogue.

This film though has none of these things, and is a real let-down.

The main character is a homicide detective Bobby, played by the reliable if dull Joe Montegna, who is the detective on two unrelated cases.  Of these the more interesting is the murder of a Jewish grandmother.

Bobby himself is Jewish, and the main themes of the film seem to be Jewishness and antisemitism but it doesn't have much of interest to say about these subjects, that I could see anyway.

The murder investigation is mildly interesting although at the end of the film we learn that Bobby (and therefore we) have been pursuing a red herring, and the case is solved off camera.

So it all fizzles out.  A major loose end relating to Bobby’s future is left hanging, but frankly by this stage I wasn’t much fussed.

RATING: x Find Something Better To Do