The only reason I rented this thing: it was the only item in the mystery section of my local video store I hadn't seen. Imagine a bunch of bananas. You choose the most appetizing looking one to begin, then the next most appetizing and so forth. When you get to the last banana, you now have in your hand the one you rejected every single time before, plus it's less fresh now. Do you even want to eat it? The movie is like the last banana. Having passed it over in favor of dozens of other choices over a period of years, I finally watched it and wished I hadn't. Ignore the ad copy. It promises suspense, cat-and-mouse intrigue, but don't all movies of this type make such claims and don't most largely fail to deliver? Well, this one delivers like Canada Post on Xmas, ie. never. There is no suspense, no character interest or visual interest whatsoever, just a shadowy murky look that a film school dropout might mistake for film noir if he wasn't paying very close attention. Uma looks great, of course, but she was 17 when she did this, her first feature, and lacked the experience necessary to light up the screen the way she did just a few years later in Henry and June and Pulp Fiction. Her character is indolent, passive and boring - a mixture of victim and victimizer but not a very rich or interesting mix. Her actions fail to shock when she commits crimes nor is she in any way sympathetic when she is herself in jeopardy. It's a thriller devoid of thrills. Recommended only for insomniacs looking for a quick cure.
