Fun yet Preposterous
Added 8/14/2007
Murder in Mind is quite a ride, but ultimately, it crashes. One can see why Ms. Parker was interested in the role(s). Like The Robber Bride, MiM provided Ms. Parker to play her characters from different perspectives. And I should add, she delivers as does Jimmy Smits. The first hour of the film works successfully in keeping the viewer off balanced and reevaluating. It's a wonderful ride until the last 20 minutes, where for this writer, the film turned into a sinister take on Shaw's Pygmalion. Interesting idea, but the story took such an over the top and preposterous road that it leaves one feeling disappointed, confused and a bit cheated. It was simply too much to swallow.
Ms. Parker does a fine job and resists overplaying it, as unfortunately her costar Nigel Hawthorne, failed to do in the end (I expected better from him).
Interesting yet with an over the top and wacky ending.
Grade: C-
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Based on the premise that one person can totally (well, almost totally) dominate another by means of hypnosis, suggestion, regression, memory erasure and replacement, etc etc, this film tells a fairly simple story in an exceedingly intricate manner. In a way, it was fairly well told, because it kept you baffled. However, in the end the intensely confusing psychological and visual trickery masked a rather banal idea: marry a man for his money, then kill him, after making sure that you, or your hypnotized partner, stand to inherit. Funny how that never came up in the courtroom during the trial --- or was the trial scene just another trick of the mind? Nigel Hawthorne, who co-produced, played the Svengali type trick-cyclist, and quite a sweet-looking girl played his manipulated dupe. Actually, now that I come to think of it, the whole thing was ridiculous instead of genuinely ingenious, and it dragged a bit. I'd sort of like to give it 4 stars, but I can't.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Fabulous, absolutely fabulous!
Added 9/4/1999
The movie was Hitchcock(isque,) I have admiration for such a well rounded cast both starring and supporting! Bravo Mitch Ward (court clerk), I've followed your stage career for years. You are equally impressive on the big screen. Jimmy Smit's performance was depressing but his being a T.V. star probably explained his inability to achieve silver screen excellence here - but he notably tries. Nigel Hawthorne is great as in most of his efforts. Mary Louise Parker was very believable as a street girl turned millionaress turned butcherer! See it. It's worth it! Scotch and Soda.
4 out of 6 people found this helpful.
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Fun yet Preposterous
Added 8/14/2007
Murder in Mind is quite a ride, but ultimately, it crashes. One can see why Ms. Parker was interested in the role(s). Like The Robber Bride, MiM provided Ms. Parker to play her characters from different perspectives. And I should add, she delivers as does Jimmy Smits. The first hour of the film works successfully in keeping the viewer off balanced and reevaluating. It's a wonderful ride until the last 20 minutes, where for this writer, the film turned into a sinister take on Shaw's Pygmalion. Interesting idea, but the story took such an over the top and preposterous road that it leaves one feeling disappointed, confused and a bit cheated. It was simply too much to swallow.
Ms. Parker does a fine job and resists overplaying it, as unfortunately her costar Nigel Hawthorne, failed to do in the end (I expected better from him).
Interesting yet with an over the top and wacky ending.
Grade: C-
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Based on the premise that one person can totally (well, almost totally) dominate another by means of hypnosis, suggestion, regression, memory erasure and replacement, etc etc, this film tells a fairly simple story in an exceedingly intricate manner. In a way, it was fairly well told, because it kept you baffled. However, in the end the intensely confusing psychological and visual trickery masked a rather banal idea: marry a man for his money, then kill him, after making sure that you, or your hypnotized partner, stand to inherit. Funny how that never came up in the courtroom during the trial --- or was the trial scene just another trick of the mind? Nigel Hawthorne, who co-produced, played the Svengali type trick-cyclist, and quite a sweet-looking girl played his manipulated dupe. Actually, now that I come to think of it, the whole thing was ridiculous instead of genuinely ingenious, and it dragged a bit. I'd sort of like to give it 4 stars, but I can't.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Fabulous, absolutely fabulous!
Added 9/4/1999
The movie was Hitchcock(isque,) I have admiration for such a well rounded cast both starring and supporting! Bravo Mitch Ward (court clerk), I've followed your stage career for years. You are equally impressive on the big screen. Jimmy Smit's performance was depressing but his being a T.V. star probably explained his inability to achieve silver screen excellence here - but he notably tries. Nigel Hawthorne is great as in most of his efforts. Mary Louise Parker was very believable as a street girl turned millionaress turned butcherer! See it. It's worth it! Scotch and Soda.
4 out of 6 people found this helpful.
|
Fun yet Preposterous
Added 8/14/2007
Murder in Mind is quite a ride, but ultimately, it crashes. One can see why Ms. Parker was interested in the role(s). Like The Robber Bride, MiM provided Ms. Parker to play her characters from different perspectives. And I should add, she delivers as does Jimmy Smits. The first hour of the film works successfully in keeping the viewer off balanced and reevaluating. It's a wonderful ride until the last 20 minutes, where for this writer, the film turned into a sinister take on Shaw's Pygmalion. Interesting idea, but the story took such an over the top and preposterous road that it leaves one feeling disappointed, confused and a bit cheated. It was simply too much to swallow.
Ms. Parker does a fine job and resists overplaying it, as unfortunately her costar Nigel Hawthorne, failed to do in the end (I expected better from him).
Interesting yet with an over the top and wacky ending.
Grade: C-
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Based on the premise that one person can totally (well, almost totally) dominate another by means of hypnosis, suggestion, regression, memory erasure and replacement, etc etc, this film tells a fairly simple story in an exceedingly intricate manner. In a way, it was fairly well told, because it kept you baffled. However, in the end the intensely confusing psychological and visual trickery masked a rather banal idea: marry a man for his money, then kill him, after making sure that you, or your hypnotized partner, stand to inherit. Funny how that never came up in the courtroom during the trial --- or was the trial scene just another trick of the mind? Nigel Hawthorne, who co-produced, played the Svengali type trick-cyclist, and quite a sweet-looking girl played his manipulated dupe. Actually, now that I come to think of it, the whole thing was ridiculous instead of genuinely ingenious, and it dragged a bit. I'd sort of like to give it 4 stars, but I can't.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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