Review of Miami Blues (1990) by Ola G — 06 Jan 2019

Frederick J. Frenger Jr. (Alec Baldwin), a violent sociopath recently released from a California prison, starts a new life in Miami. Before leaving the airport, he steals luggage and kills a Hare Krishna after breaking his finger. Junior checks into a hotel and hooks up with Susie Waggoner (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a naive prostitute who is a student at a community college. They become romantically involved and take a house together, with Susie blissfully unaware of Junior's criminal activities and harboring fantasies of living happily ever after. An investigation of the Hare Krishna murder leads grizzled policeman Sgt. Hoke Moseley (Fred Ward) to come knocking on their door. Moseley shares a home-cooked dinner with the couple, upon Susie's suggestion, and plays it cool while seemingly indicating to Junior that he's on to him. He overtly suspects Junior has been in prison and wants him to come to the police station for a lineup. Junior goes to Moseley's home the next day, assaults him, and steals his gun, badge and dentures. Later, while Susie is taking a bath and writing a haiku, Junior decides to break into a nearby apartment. He steals an IMI Desert Eagle handgun and a steak. Junior begins using the badge, demanding bribes as rewards after breaking up robberies, only to keep the loot for himself. Sooner or later Moseley and the law will catch up with him...

This neo-noir black comedy crime film is based on the novel of the same name by Charles Willeford. In my opinion the storyline is a bit wobbly and quite simple, the scene structure a bit wobbly and the general 80s/90s vibe feels a bit outdated when seeing the film today. Alec Baldwin is however excellent as Junior, but that´s not enough to be honest. Jennifer Jason Leigh and Fred Ward are fine in their roles, but they still ends up more like backdrops to Baldwin´s psychopathic Frederick J. Frenger Jr. character. The issue is that non of the characters are that easy to identify with, but their flaws gives them humanity which creates a more "real" feeling to the film. But, "Miami Blues" becomes an average black comedy crime thriller when re-seeing it today.