Blutige Karriere - Vertrag mit dem Tod

Grabbed this one purely because I needed a Kate McNeil fix. Getting harder and harder to find her these days.

The poor early dialogue and overdone exposition made me think this is another cheesy cable drama, but once the story begins to unfold (and the dialogue lessens) it really rolls out into a darn good thriller. Many different suspects (the parents, the friend, the lover, the co-worker), lots of motives keep you guessing.

Its no frills, you won't have anywhere near the production value of Seven, Silence of the Lambs, or even Kiss the Girls. And try not to pay too much attention to Andrew McCarthy, or Paul Sorvino for that matter, as their minimalist approach to character will only distract you from the story.

Too bad this little script ultimately found itself in the low-budget land of straight-to-video. A little TLC and a few bucks could have paid big dividends here.

All in all a very pleasant surprise.

My main interest in seeing this film was Andrew McCarthy, as I have been a fan since I was a kid.

I found the film to have a good story, occasionally predictable, but you will still want to watch till the end to see how everything plays out.

Easily watchable, and Andrew McCarthy is brilliant as always. Paul Sorvino puts in a good turn as the cop, although the children are a bit wooden.

As long as you dont have high expectations, it will surprise you.

I was cajoled into watching this TV movie by the wife, who has very positive nostalgic memories of Andrew McCarthy (Mannequin, Pretty in Pink, St Elmo's Fire) and found it to be actually rather good.

It may not have the budget of The Usual Suspects, but it's intriguing none the less as the nice plot gradually plays out. Some of the whodunnits are very obvious, as McCarthy tries to piece together who killed his wife and why, like the supposed friend and work colleague or the father in law, but overall this is one worth sticking with to the end.

Good performance by the guy of The Sopranos and also look out for the laughingly titled magazine 'Dungeon Bitch' - used to put the colleague in the frame.

As long as you don't expect too much, you'll enjoy.

R

Completely unbelievable. And, to top it off, the CN train doesn't even stop after wrecking a car? Well the conductor was probably calling an insurance company.

"Escape Clause", with MacCarthy at the center, is a whodunit with the look and feel of a low budget made-for-tv soap. Everything in this flick is too pat to be real which takes some of the umph out of the big climax at the end. Nonetheless, may be worth a watch for those into mysteries with nothing better to do on a rainy night. Catch this very ordinary flick on tv.