Criminal Passion (1994)

Too much of everything

Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

This movie was fair; even though it did not have as much skin involved as I expected. Most of the time Joan Severance and three other detectives were trying to find a way to arrest a man of killing a woman, and suspecting that he had killed four other women. Her three partners were: a black fag - a fouled mouthed Latino - and a toothpick munching white dude. I hate those toothpick munchers. Eventually Joan gets sexually involved with the suspect and thinks that one of his ex-girlfriends did the current murder; but the toothpick'er keeps driving at arresting the rich guy (who is also the son of a senator). Overall, it's a watchable movie; mainly because Joan looks fantastic - that is, if you like mature sexy women instead of watching some blonde bimbo from down the street: that those Hollywood executives are casting as main actresses nowadays.

Which is the only reason it gets two stars and not one. Forget the story, the plot, the characters, etc...Joan stars as a beautiful cop (could she star as anything that isn't beautiful), because we all know that really hot men and women become civil servants pulling down 50K a year, right? But hey! Don't sweat it! We got Joan gearing down, and that's all we need.How she wasn't nominated for an Oscar is beyond me. Let's face it, she does some of her best work when she puts on a shirt to answer the door! I won't even bother telling you what it's about, other than to say this is right up there with such classics as "Hard Ticket to Hawaii", "Busty Coeds v. Lusty Cheerleaders", and "Busty cops." I saw this one night when I couldn't sleep on Cinemax at 3 in the morning. My insomnia was cured,because as bad as this was, it was like a train wreck: you shouldn't stare but you can't help it.Avoid this at all costs.

This movie may not be the most exciting I've ever seen because you can guess the identity of the killer within the first few minutes.But what makes it interesting is the performance of John Allen Nelson as the crime suspect Connor Ashcroft.The role of a playboy,who obviously is irresistible to women,fits him absolutely perfect.He plays both this erotic component as well as his dark side more than convincing.I can think of no one who could present it better! The performance of Joan Severance as Detective Melanie Hudson isn't quite as convincing.No doubt she's a good actress,but you just don't believe her to be a tough cop.So good acting is not enough sometimes. All in all the movie is worth watching it,I'll give it 7 out of 10.

This film bored me. The only actor who didn't seem to mail it in was John Allen Nelson, as the baddie. I've heard that it's more fun to play the villain, so that's probably why. Joan Severance is a babe, but she was thouroughly unconvincing as the tough cop. For such a B movie, with Ms. Severance in it, I had hoped for more nudity. I notice that the director, Donna Deitch works mostly in TV. She needs a better script and better actors to see if she can do a good job on a feature film. I think maybe she could.