The Front (2010)

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

In Boston, a killer is on the loose and possibly copying the Strangler. Police detective Win Garano (Daniel Sunjata) takes on the case since his grandmother lives nearby. District Attorney Monique Lamont (Andie MacDowell) is politically ambitious and running for re-election. She assigns the one-legged Stump (Ashley Williams) to be his partner. Stump had helped found FRONT, a neighborhood watch police program, but Lamont had tried to co-op it. There is creepy guy Cal Tradd (Dane DeHaan) and a mime dressed as Raggedy Ann.I'm guessing this is part of a series and these characters have a history. The movie doesn't take much time setting them up but it's easy to figure it out. This is standard police drama without much intensity. It simply feels inferior in many ways. There are a couple of reveals but they don't excite me much. It starts off badly with the very silly Raggedy Ann. It puts the movie in an awkward position. The look is lower level TV.

The Front is a bit trite as far as the plot goes, but most characters have depth enough to make watching this Lifetime movie worth watching.Daniel Sunjata makes an interesting detective, and he seems at ease with his role. Diahann Carroll also has an interesting character as Sunjata's grandmother. Ashley Williams has an adequately damaged character but her performance is a bit thin in places but fine in others. Andie MacDowell is very sleazy and a bit one-dimensional. Patricia Cornwell makes a cameo appearance. Dane Dehann stands out in his portrayal.While the characters have depth, their dialog doesn't. That is the norm for this type of production. These films get made without a prolonged effort. It is a four-door sedan of a movie. Don't set your expectations too high and you won't be disappointed by the film.

Unfortunately one is not permitted to vote with a zero or even a minus figure. I think this film has to rate as the worst I have ever seen. Slow. Poor pacing, bad acting, utterly ludicrous script. Why a supposedly intelligent, professional woman such as DA Lamont would have anything to do with the incredibly creepy Cal the student is beyond me. The guy apart from being sleazy and creepy, clearly has a major screw loose. No woman would give him access to anything. I was so disappointed, I've been reading Patricia Cornwell for years. This was a serious let down. The only actor who comes out of this mess with his dignity intact is Daniel Sunjata. You are left with the feeling he could have done a fantastic job, but does his best with the join the dots, painting by numbers script he has been given. Andie MacDowell is a disaster. It defies credulity that she would ever have achieved the post that she has. No one in their right mind would vote for her.

As in her other novel, there is just too much going on here. Suddenly, Andie MacDowell is much more aggressive and really bitchy here. She is also quite a tramp. She is carrying on with the governor who came in when the old governor literally checked out.The plot here is easily lost. We see a story that's questioning whether the Boston strangler is at it again. This seemingly good plot is soon lost when one of the assistants decides that to be able to solve crimes, you have to start doing them. Thereby, the bodies begin to pile up and our Barack Obama-Harold Ford look alike is almost framed for one of them.We finally find out why Diahann Carroll acted in the way she did with the scene with the dogs. She placed a curse on the guy who was hurting them. While she took her nephew away, his parents succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning. This should have been explained in the previous chapter.Miss Carroll is as weird as ever and is always being threatened.Ms. Cornwell should keep her plot direct and not have it all tie in within the last 5 minutes or so.