Murder in Mind (1997)

the audience applauded

Perfect cast and a good story

Just perfect...

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

The plot of this movie is as dumb as a bag of hair. Jimmy Smit plays a character that could have been upset by the ridiculousness of the story. He is evil and a wife beater. It's a character as far from his NYPD and LA Law roles as you could possibly get.If you've thought he had the looks and the acting chops to play the really bad boy role, her's your present.But!!!!!!!! Mary Louis Parker wears black miniskirts and little black minidresses throughout the movie.She has always had some of the greatest legs in the history of the movies. This makes the movie well worth it for this leg admirer.I'd buy the DVD for this reason only if it was available.

A good cast... A good idea but turns out it is flawed as hypnosis is not allowed as evidence in courts. So many good actors and they are all acting so badly! So why did they all get attracted to this mess... And yes it has its good points such as lighting etc... But ultimately I wondered two things.... How could so much talent lead to such a bizarre mess? What is that accent that Nigel Hawthorne is putting on? He is/was a great actor and so what is that accent all about? It is impossible to identify? What was he trying to do? Maybe it is his subtle indication as if to say to us: 'I've got involved with a turkey so here's a crap accent to go with it!'

****SPOILERS**** Suspected of murdering her husband Peter, Jimmy Smits, and the live-in, handyman Charlie, Gailard Sartain, Caroline Walker, Mary-Louise Parker, is being interrogated at the police station when she is appointed a court psychiatrist Dr. Ellis, Nigel Hawthorne. Dr. Ellis tries to help her remember what happened in the three hours at the Walker Estate up to the time of the double-murders that night. Going to Dr. Ellis' office the next day he puts her under hypnosis to help Caroline by regressing her back in time to the point where she married Peter and then back to the night of his and Charlie's murder.We see that Caroline's marriage to Peter was anything but happy with Peter holding Caroline responsible for forcing him to marry her by tricking him into getting her pregnant. Peter was driven to marry Caroline to prevent any scandal that would hurt his high standing in the community that he built up over the years.Peter was anything but a perfect husband to Caroline always yelling at her and even smacking her around at times even though he strove for perfection in everything that he did in his social life as well as his many business ventures to impress his rich and high powered friends and acquaintances. Peter was also very rude and nasty to Charlie, the live-in handyman at his estate, by insulting and putting him down at every opportunity. Charlie being a good-natured and sweet as well as at times a very hapless person could do nothing but take Peter's abuse and at the same time try to learn how to live with it.As Dr. Ellis slowly brought Caroline forward to that night when her husband Peter and Charlie were found murdered. Surprisingly we find out that she indeed was innocent of those crimes. Dr.Ellis' expert testimony at Caroline's murder trial is what convinced the jury to find her not guilty but the policeman who handled the case Det.Holloway, Jason Scott Lee, felt that she did murder Peter and Charlie. But now that Caroline was vindicated by a jury of her peers there was nothing that he could do. Soon after the jury verdict the truth comes out about the murders and it turns out that Caroline's mind was purposely blocked by the real murderer and he wasn't the person that we in the audience as well as those in the movie were lead to believe he was. Confusing movie with a number of ridicules flash-backs that had in most cases nothing to do with the story that we were seeing on the screen. The flash-backs popped up mostly at inopportune times in the movie and looked like most of them were left on the cutting-room floor because they didn't fit into the films plot. Also there was so many close-ups of Mary-Louise Parker's big brown eyes that it made me in watching the movie more hypnotized then she was by Dr. Ellis. The overly contrived conclusion of the movie spoiled whatever there was left of the plot and tension in the film. The really off-the-wall ending left you totally stupefied, just like Det. Holloway was with his jaw dropping and eyes wide open and looking flabbergasted at the end of the film.

Someone should teach the people who made this movie that there is a difference between "presenting multiple twists" and "screwing the audience over". They even use hypnosis as a tool to cover up the plot holes; whenever they can't find their way into or out of a scene, they just say "she is regressing to her past now" or "she's snapping out of it now", and they think that explains everything. This movie is a dishonest cheat and in the last 20 minutes becomes a full-blown fiasco. (*1/2)