The script of "Shadow of a Doubt" is bad. Real bad. The dialogue has many inept points. The judge's lines are inappropriate and unrealistic. The DA is over the top and unbelievable. Scene after scene is right out of the cheapest, lowest quality pulp fiction. One of the lowest scenes is a retread of the old "death as an aphrodisiac" cliché. Then there's the shameless Alcoholics Anonymous propaganda. The origin of this is embarrassingly close to the life of director/star Brian Dennehy. At one point, his character references his time being sober as being virtually the exact same as Dennehy himself. Not that I have anything against the AA, but it just smacks of recent conversion fervor. Speaking of Brian Dennehy (who I like very much as an actor), he is not a good director. In fact, he has next to no ability to rein in his actors. He lets everyone wink at the audience and make cute little sideways comments to the camera. In effect, he invites everyone to overact as much as they care to.
So what's good about this film? Fairuza Balk is interesting. It's hard to say if her performance is uneven, or it's just the character. Either way, she's fun to watch. And the film is entertaining, albeit in an extremely lowbrow sort of way. I don't regret having seen it, but there isn't exactly anything to recommend here.
So what's good about this film? Fairuza Balk is interesting. It's hard to say if her performance is uneven, or it's just the character. Either way, she's fun to watch. And the film is entertaining, albeit in an extremely lowbrow sort of way. I don't regret having seen it, but there isn't exactly anything to recommend here.