FILM REVIEW01'Dead Women in Lingerie' By KIRK HONEYCUTTThe only good thing about ''Dead Women in Lingerie'' is its title.
This fumbling, often amateurish film has little chance of emerging from AFI's Independent Showcase with a distributor. Its best hope lies in a video deal where that title might provoke interest.
What producer-director Erica Fox strives for is an atmospheric murder mystery set in Los Angeles' downtown Garment District. But the film develops without much atmosphere. Or, for that matter, much mystery.
Several Latina seamstresses at a lingerie factory, who improbably double as models, are murdered while wearing the company's product line. Designer Maura Tierney brings in private eye John Romo when she realizes solving the killings is not the Los Angeles Police Department's top priority.
Fox and Romo, who collaborated on the script, make the mistake of playing the detective strictly for laughs. This hapless PI without a clue spends most of the film romantically pursuing his employer while the case more or less solves itself.
Fox admirably tries to dramatize the hardships faced by undocumented workers, but does so mostly through long speechess.
Nor does she have the actors to deliver these speeches. Though game, her performers generally lack technique and strggle with all but the simplest lines.
Fox has collared Jerry Orbach, June Lockhart, Lyle Waggoner and Dennis Christopher for supporting roles and their professionalism is a welcome relief. But one-note characters limit their contributions.
Inexperience lends an awkwardness to the story's flow. Exposition is poorly handled. It's well into the movie before we realize Romo's character is supposed to be part Hispanic.
Characters drift into situations that fail to advance either plot or character development. At best the film feels like an hourlong TV detective show padded with extraneous scenes.
Technical credits are below average. Some scenes betray a lack of adequate coverage by cinematographer John Newby, forcing editors Mark Stratton and Stacia Thompson to stick with long master shots.
Ciro Hurtado's music is occasionally out of touch with the scene it's supposed to enhance. And for a film about lingerie, Catherine Beaumont's costumes are surprisingly ordinary.
DEAD WOMEN IN LINGERIE
Seagate Films
Producer-director Erica Fox
Writers Erica Fox, John Romo
Director of photography John C. Newby
Production designer Adam Leventhal
Music Ciro Hurtado
Editors Mark Stratton, Stacia Thompson
Costume designer Catherine Beaumont
Color
Cast:
Nick Marnes John Romo
Molly Field Maura Tierney
Mom June Lockhart
Dad Lyle Waggoner
Lapin Dennis Christopher
Mr. Bartoli Jerry Orbach
Running time -- 87 minutes
No MPAA rating
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
What producer-director Erica Fox strives for is an atmospheric murder mystery set in Los Angeles' downtown Garment District. But the film develops without much atmosphere. Or, for that matter, much mystery.
Several Latina seamstresses at a lingerie factory, who improbably double as models, are murdered while wearing the company's product line. Designer Maura Tierney brings in private eye John Romo when she realizes solving the killings is not the Los Angeles Police Department's top priority.
Fox and Romo, who collaborated on the script, make the mistake of playing the detective strictly for laughs. This hapless PI without a clue spends most of the film romantically pursuing his employer while the case more or less solves itself.
Fox admirably tries to dramatize the hardships faced by undocumented workers, but does so mostly through long speechess.
Nor does she have the actors to deliver these speeches. Though game, her performers generally lack technique and strggle with all but the simplest lines.
Fox has collared Jerry Orbach, June Lockhart, Lyle Waggoner and Dennis Christopher for supporting roles and their professionalism is a welcome relief. But one-note characters limit their contributions.
Inexperience lends an awkwardness to the story's flow. Exposition is poorly handled. It's well into the movie before we realize Romo's character is supposed to be part Hispanic.
Characters drift into situations that fail to advance either plot or character development. At best the film feels like an hourlong TV detective show padded with extraneous scenes.
Technical credits are below average. Some scenes betray a lack of adequate coverage by cinematographer John Newby, forcing editors Mark Stratton and Stacia Thompson to stick with long master shots.
Ciro Hurtado's music is occasionally out of touch with the scene it's supposed to enhance. And for a film about lingerie, Catherine Beaumont's costumes are surprisingly ordinary.
DEAD WOMEN IN LINGERIE
Seagate Films
Producer-director Erica Fox
Writers Erica Fox, John Romo
Director of photography John C. Newby
Production designer Adam Leventhal
Music Ciro Hurtado
Editors Mark Stratton, Stacia Thompson
Costume designer Catherine Beaumont
Color
Cast:
Nick Marnes John Romo
Molly Field Maura Tierney
Mom June Lockhart
Dad Lyle Waggoner
Lapin Dennis Christopher
Mr. Bartoli Jerry Orbach
Running time -- 87 minutes
No MPAA rating
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
- 10/31/1991
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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