Bernadette Flynn (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) and her friend, Alison Hawkins (Faye Grant), headed home after a New Year's Eve Party. They shared a cab to Alison's apartment building. Drunk and happy, Alison stumbled into her apartment and said hello to her fish. Then, a figure appeared behind her and strangled her to death with a blue ribbon. This was the 11th murder in the last 11 months with the same M. O.
Mayor Flynn (Rod Steiger) was furious and vented his anger to Police Commissioner Frank Starkey (Harvey Keitel). Bernadette is his daughter, so this struck alarmingly close to home. The mayor demanded that Nick Starkey (Kevin Kline), who happened to be the commissioner's brother, get reinstated as a police detective to solve the case. Frank was less than keen, but obeyed orders. Nick had been with the fire department since his scandalous departure from the police. Nick's methods were unorthodox and his choice for an assistant - an artist named Ed (Alan Rickman) - raised eyebrows. Captain Alcoa (Danny Aiello) was apoplectic that Nick was reinstated and that he was required to provide whatever the crackpot needed.
Despite the setup, the murder mystery is almost secondary as far as the plot is concerned. A great deal of time focused on Nick's obsession with his brother's wife, Christine (Susan Sarandon). Indeed, it would seem that they were an item before his exit from the police. He even accuses her of marrying the wrong brother. Oddly, Nick's one requirement for returning to the police was that he could have dinner alone with Christine. Bizarre.
Later, Nick clumsily followed Bernadette, only to be spotted by her. Okay, so he's not that good at tailing someone. Then, rather than talk to her about the case, he convinced her to go to a hotel and hop in the sack. She agreed! Um, is this a murder mystery or a romance? Bernadette moved in with Nick and became his Girl Friday for the remainder of the film, with relatively little pushback from her father, the mayor!
The movie has no idea what it wants to be. None of the relationships are sufficiently developed. The brothers more or less hate one another and it was Frank who was guilty of the crime that got Nick kicked off the force. Christine rejected Nick at the dinner but later returned to find Bernadette at his apartment; now she was jealously incarnate and couldn't wait to leave Frank. Huh? Ed is an artist and computer whiz with a Maynard Krebs view on life; kind of a wasted use of Alan Rickman. Rod Steiger is just a blowhard with a bad perm. So, is this a romantic comedy, a murder mystery, a thriller, a whodunit, or what? All of the above in a hodge podge fashion.
With such a great cast, this is an astonishingly mediocre film. Skip.
