Review of Crimes of Passion (1984) by Tonypolito — 03 Dec 2010

Steamy, sort of, but not really worth the investment of 90 minutes of your time. I suppose this was pretty edgy stuff back in 1984. But that just doesn't compensate for all the vapid plotline, lousy dialogue and bad acting.

Anthony Perkins is cast in the role of a psychotic street preacher who's obsessing over working girl Kathleen Turner. Obsessing in a Hitchcockian sort of way, you see. Which is why Perkins was cast. Unfortunately, he delivers way, way over-the-top, and it comes off as oh-so campy.

Turner, here just three years behind her steamy delivery in "Body Heat," delivers decently - but the lines are just too flat and trite for it to matter very much. Annie Potts does ok. The rest of the bunch hopefully sought out career tracks in the food and beverage industry.

If there's anything really interesting here it's the camerawork, and more specifically, the lighting. There's a lot of scenes containing bold, vibrant colors mixing upon one another. Plus there's a lot of creative lighting and shadowing. One interesting example is the use of a wallpaper in Turner's hot-sheet motel room. It holds a pattern in velvet atop a base layer that is slightly metallic. The metallic layer is just reflective enough to glimmer as Turner stands beside it, and to add light to her from a side angle.

Commentary by director Russell doesn't bring much to the party. The DVD is the un-cut Director's Cut. The theatrical release had to go through six rounds of snipping to get past the MPAA.

RECOMMENDATION: Approved for film-schoolers, for the aforementioned camerawork. Others - even those looking for steamy R-rated late-night-cable fare - should just steer clear.

NB: The Pam Anderson billed in this fim, who is on-screen for all of 1.5 seconds, is NOT "the" Pam Anderson. Down, boy.