Mortal Sins

My review was written in October 1990 after watching the film on Academy video cassette.

Scandals involving televangelists provide fodder for the mild whodunit "Mortal Sins". That's the video title; theatrical release moniker is "Dangerous Obsession".

Filmed in Gotham two years ago as "God's Payroll', pic has James Harper hiring Jewish private eye Brian Benben to investigate the murder of his partner, Korean televangelist Park Sung (James Saito). Trial leads to a corrupt rival preacher Billy Beau Backus (played by Brick Hartney as well as Harpere's beautiful daughter (Debrah Farentino).

Producer Allen Blumberg's script is constructed like a tv movie/pilot with plenty of emphasis on Benben's ethnicity and untenable changes in tone. Some ridiculous subplots, notably when a nude woman and a geek toting a chainsaw accost BenBen in an abandoned church, destroy credibility. Low point is a tasteless scene of a villain dying on the steps of a Harlem church, insulting he black parishioners who try to help him.

Benben is colorless in the lead role, and Farentino is outshone by Maggie Jakobson (of Henry Jaglom's "New Year's Day") in a support role. Anthony LaPaglia, who subsequently aroused attention in Alan Alda's "Betsy's Wedding", has a nothing p;art as one of Benben's pals, but has been upped to third billing.

Tech credits are okay, but soundtrack pointlessly features golden oldies that have nothing to do with the visuals or mood.