Exiled

I admit, having two hours to kill on a winter afternoon puts you in the mood to curl up with a blanket and watch a good crime drama. "Exiled" has its high points, but unless you're an enormous fan of Mike Logan (and I know lots of people that are) this one isn't going to tempt your taste buds much. It follows his "exile" from Manhattan to the outer district, and his attempt through a homicide case to get back into the big leagues, with run-ins with former associates along the way.

Having seen many, many L&O episodes, enough to know the characters pretty well, I felt a lot of them were spot on. Logan's relationship with Lennie seemed plausible after the time the two spent together. I also wasn't nearly as disapproving of his scene with McCoy as others have been -- I felt Jack was the same as usual, a little frustrated with being bullied and not terribly pleased to see Logan again. The hatred Van Buren seemed to have for him was off, but I have to say the bright moments in the script are woven between the regular L&O gang (namely Lennie and Jack's three and a half minute appearance in a mental arm wrestle against Logan's demands that a task force be put into place to solve a crime) and the sadder situations ... a scene close to the end dealing with the crooked cop angle.

It wasn't a total waste of time, but nothing I would go to any lengths to see again.

Law & Order fans will appreciate the return of Chris Noth to the setting, and also the slightly longer look at New York City, which obviously cannot be caught in the pacing of a regular episode. The film does seem to attempt to crowd in a few too many Law & Order characters from the period and the years previous to it, and sometimes the pacing is a little slow. Dana Eskelson is adorable as a Logan's partner, a detective who grew up around the Uzielli crime family, and takes this and her status as a woman on the force to mean she has something to prove. Ice-T is hilarious as an absurdly named pimp, but Nicole Ari Parker's performance as victim's sister and Logan's love interest is lackluster and unconvincing. All in all, this movie is not a waste of your time, if you are a Law & Order junkie like the rest of us.

A few years after Chris Noth left the cast of Law & Order on television, he and Charles Kipps came up with the idea of a television special to reunite him with his audience. Chris is in a precinct in Staten Island, under the jurisdiction of Dabney Coleman, and with Dana Eskelson as a partner. He desperately wants to get back to his old territory, so he fudges the details of a homicide so he can crack the case and earn a transfer.

The opening credits will reassure you that all the Law & Order cast members you know and love join Chris Noth in the movie, but in reality, they have glorified cameos. Jerry Orbach has maybe eight minutes on screen, Sam Waterston and S. Epatha Merkerson probably have five minutes each, and Benjamin Bratt has less than two minutes. But it's still fun to see them—it wouldn't be Exiled: A Law and Order Movie without them! If you love the series—really, who doesn't?—you'll probably want to watch this TV movie. It's extremely similar to the episodes, minus the absence of any courtroom scenes. There's a murder, colorful suspects, snappy banter, and a few one-liners that make you groan and chuckle at the same time.

For those of you who are offended that this movie insinuates nothing happens on Staten Island--get over it-nothing does. I'm a NYC paramedic and I know of what I speak. Chris Noth played this character very realistically. I think Dick Wolf made good use of a great character and an excellent actor. I would also like to give kudos to the 34th Avenue Bowl in my old neighborhood. Chris, why didn't you tell me? We could have hung out! Jeanine

just want to say a friend of mine gave me the website to profaci(john fiore 's new movie johnny slade's greatest hits. www.johnnyslade.net it brought back all the old feeling i had for the character

this movie and fiore in particular was a riot...its being released soon i hear. it reminded me of how good a character profaci was and what a shame it was to see him so dissed by the egomaniac NOTH...

when i watch things ,i root for the underdogs like profaci. i watch the smaller players and study them...like a lot of L&O freaks ,i dug the guy. with all the recycles..why hasn't wolf brought him back?

exiled was profaci's best and last moments on the show. here's to you profaci.. cheers