steven@ism70.UUCP (10/10/85)
JAGGED EDGE Starring Jeff Bridges and Glenn Close. Also starring Peter Coyote and Robert Loggia. Directed by Richard Marquand. Written by Joe Esterhaz. Produced by Martin Ransohoff. Photographed by Matthew Leonetti. Production Designed by Gene Callahan. Edited by Sean Barton and Conrad Buff. Music by John Barry. From Columbia Pictures (1985). I just didn't give this movie a chance. Either that, or it just doesn't work. I don't know. I could go either way on that one. I'm sitting there in the dark watching "Jagged Edge" and saying to myself, this doesn't make sense, that doesn't make sense, that's a HUGE coincidence... Bridges's wife has been brutally murdered, and Bridges stands to inherit all of his wife's considerable personal and corporate fortune. D.A. Coyote thinks that Bridges did it, and finds enough evidence to charge him with murder. Close's hired to defend Bridges, only she begins to fall for him. Did Bridges do it? Is he just manipulating Close? Or is he just as much a victim as his wife? Fairly or unfairly, two recent pictures come to mind: "The Verdict" and "Body Heat". Now, you can take "The Verdict" apart when it comes to legal accuracy. The movie's a mess. Only, I'm no lawyer and David Mamet and Sidney Lumet had me totally convinced that I was watching a realistic trial. "Body Heat" points its accusatory finger so cleverly that you can sit around after you've seen it and had the time to take it to pieces and it's still seamless. Neither qualities existed for me in "Jagged Edge". I didn't feel I was watching a real trial in San Francisco. I felt more like I was hanging out on Stage 8 at the Burbank Studios. Those scenes (which are my favorites in the picture) are very corny and stagey in points. Nor did I fail to catch plot inconsistencies until I was outside the theater and on the way to the car. I was gnashing over them while I was still in my seat. Esterhaz chose not to reveal everything to the audience. He springs surprises that turn the plot in all sorts of directions and it bothered me that he didn't play "fair" with the moviegoer. That is, he deliberately withheld information to lead or mislead, rather than giving the audience to chance to guess and then discover the correctness of their deductions. On the other hand, it moves quickly and is reasonably well acted by Bridges and Close. Marquand shows some nice touches, especially in the beginning and the end of the movie. (Free advertising and in-jokes dept: there are posters for "Ghostbusters" (Columbia) and "Return of the Jedi" (Marquand) in the kid's bedroom.) Two stars out of four.