Cold Around the Heart

After David Caruso left the popular TV series "N.Y.P.D. Blue" where he had become a star through his appearances on the first 26 episodes, finding work anywhere else was hard to come by and it would seem as though he would forever be typecast as Detective John Kelly. However, the decent results of this 1997 20th Century Fox release prove that Caruso could find something decent outside of his TV stardom. Caruso portrays Ned, a "gentleman" jewel thief who plans a big diamond heist with his partner, Jude (Kelly Lynch). It seemed perfectly planned but Jude gets greedy and takes off with the diamonds leaving a vengeful Ned in hot pursuit. Slow moving at times but the occasional big climactic monent makes up for the film's occasional slow pace.

John Ridley should stick to coming up with basic plotlines for other people to turn into good (or, in the case of "Three Kings", great) movies. If this film is any indication of his undiluted intent as a screenwriter then it serves as a case in point as to why some scripters just shouldn't be allowed to sit in the director's chair. The plotting is tiresome and utterly implausible in too many places (Caruso's escape from the hospital is ridiculously easy - and where does he get the money for the used car immediately afterwards? I suppose the cops just let him keep that big fat wad of bills in his hip pocket). And what is the point of having Stacy Dash's character narrate this whole inane, seen-it-a-million-times-and-always-done-better story? The only reason I can figure is that it fits in with all the other tired, overused 'noir' cliches with which this film overflows. One more thing: I swear I am gonna go ballistic the next time one character says to another character who has clearly just come out of hair and make-up, "You look like s--t." Talk about hackneyed dialogue! Give me a break...

If you are a fan of modern film noir attempts, this will be worth a look. There are enough plot twists to make it fun to guess if the last one you've seen is indeed the last. The characters are appropriately selfish and dark and there are moments of inventive dialog, though much of it is fairly straight forward.

David Caruso does his patented "I'm going to look you right in the eye and tell you exactly how things are" bit several times. Kelly Lynch does her patented "Don't I look hot in sunglasses?" bit several times. These were pluses for me, may be minuses for others.

Overall 6-7 out of 10.

Disappointing film is cold, detached with unsympathetic characters and extreme violence. Though David Caruso and Chris Noth are terrific actors, their roles are not given enough depth to evoke any feeling from viewers. The two female roles are even less developed. Altogether a distasteful and distressing film.

Cold Around the Heart: Very good movie. Had me guessing about who really the trigger man in the holdup was. Who was the one that wasn't playing with a full deck of cards. Would have been nice if they did a flashback of the holdup. I would have picked a different woman to play Jude, but Kelly Lench did an ok job. David did a good job in his part. And Stacey Dash did a great job. I would love to get the movie on dvd or blu ray but can't seem to find it anywhere. So I got it on VUDU. Or should I say Fandango Now. Alot of the good movies are hard to find but they seem to be over seas in other countries. But I really enjoyed the movie and just watched it without trying to pick it apart for faults. Ending was very good.