Shadow of Doubt (1998)

When the daughter of a billionaire philanthropist is murdered in a rough sex romp gone bad, District Attorney Jack Campioni (Tom Berenger) is quick to indict an up-and- coming rap artist. Fresh off the acquittal of Councilman Steven Mayer (John Ritter), high-profile defense attorney Kitt Devereaux (Melanie Griffith) comes to the aid of the young rapper. Teaming with investigator Al Gordon (Huey Lewis), Devereaux finds herself up against unexpected dangerous forces, including one of the city's most politically ambitious families. Blindsided at every turn, Devereaux offers herself up as bait - and in the end, discovers that behind every conspiracy theory lies a grain of truth.

COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER

Randal Kleiser, the director of this average melodrama, is also the man who directed the classic movie, GREASE. Hard to believe that he could go from such a high energy classic to such a low key, ultimately average thriller.
Melanie Griffith plays rather vapidly a high profile defense attorney who has just gotten city councilman John Ritter off of a rap. Earlier in her career, however, Griffith got an accused rapist, played with fearless ham by Craig Sheffer, off and found out later while in bed with him that he did rape the girl.
Tom Berenger plays Jack, Griffith's ex husband, who is also the prosecuting attorney in the murder trial of a rising rap singer who Griffith is defending.
Nina Foch chews up the scenery as the presidential hopeful's mother, and Wade Dominguez underplays the accused rap singer whose rap songs are far from what one would call good.
At any rate, the movie moves along at a predictable pace and we know that there's more to the killing than meets the eye.

By the way, singer Huey Lewis does a pretty good job as Griffith's PI; he at least has some life to him
I Don't know whether Griffith played low key to show her inner strength, but she actually looks totally bored.
Not a waste of time, but it could have been so much better. June 3, 2004

Bleah. Interesting up to a point, but still, a dud.

I was a stupid dolt and actually thought this was a re-make of the Theresa Wright film "Shadow of A Doubt". But I misread the title. My stupid mistake.

The plot was a typical murder mystery, and while it was not the best told tale, I was interested in finding out "who dunnit". So I stuck around until the end. But there were many elements to this film that I found flawed, or just irritating.

And then there was the cast. I like Melanie Griffith. I like Tom Berenger. However, they could not redeem this film. Melanie Griffith came off as self concious of her beauty and "super confident"--which grated on my nerves after a while. Berenger was fine in the role he had, but he didn't get a lot screen time. He really should have been billed as a supporting actor, but the impression I got from the film's advertising was that he was a CO-star. His role wasn't all that big (it was important, but not that big). Supporting actor Huey Lewis got more screen time than Berenger! (Not that I minded--I like Lewis.)

It was nice seeing Nina Foch working again too. She's been around forever, and still has what it takes to give a good performance. Also, nice score by Joel Goldsmith (Jerry Goldsmith's son). Still, I wouldn't recommend this film. Rent it if you must.

If you are a big Griffith fan, you might be tempted, but this is certainly not her best roll. Tom Berenger fans will be disappointed--his part isn't all that interesting. October 27, 2002

A remake of Dumb & Dumber????

Melanie Griffith must've been strapped for money when she agreed to do this film. While she is quite good in it and credible in the role, her character does such stupid things -- not very smart for a supposedly smart lawyer. In an effort to catch a murderer, she actually allows the guy she knows to be the vicious killer into her house...at night...alone...and, of course, no lights are lit so that said killer can jump out at her/us and go "Boo!"

Well, let me go "Boo!" This film is too dumb to be believed. August 3, 2002

A big surprise!

Was very surprised how good the movie was. Didn't have any expectations and I thought Melanie Griffith was great in her role. There's only one part of the movie that really was cheesy and they could have done without, but all in all, it's a good thriller with some nice twists and turns. September 28, 2001

Good cast but dopey script, stupid characters.

I enjoy almost anything Melanie Griffith is in, but this one was too silly and unbelievable. Her character is supposed to be a smart, tough lawyer but she does everything that would either get a real lawyer disbarred, laughed out of court -- or killed. Beautifully shot, great sets and locations, but everybody is wasted in this dopey script. Nina Foch is a GREAT witchy woman, but I missed John Ritter completely (fooled by the beard)and had to rewind to catch his scene in the very beginning. February 27, 2001

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