Chacun sa chance

Watch paint dry or grass grow - this movie's awful.

The opening scene sets the viewers' expectations that this might be a comedy. Leon Redbone's singing isn't for me but the selection of songs is at best a mystery - they don't fit in with the movie at all.

Debra Winger's character is just that. And Nick Nolte plays a supposedly reputable private investigator who doesn't investigate anything. He says he's in love with the wacky Winger character just after meeting her and that's just the beginning of what is one of the worst flicks I ever sat through.

Save yourself and your friends. Go contemplate your navel instead.

In 1990, Nick Nolte made two films about large-scale corruption, in the police ("Q & A") and in public offices in general ("Everybody Wins"). One difference is that in the former he is the villain, in the latter he is the hero. Another difference is that in "Everybody Wins" the subject gets a decidedly uncommercial treatment. This movie has its own rhythm, its own personality, and you have to sink in to it. It's more of a subtle satire than the thriller suggested by the video cover / plot description / trailer. And it has a couple of great lines, too: "He's just a second-rate man in a position of power. It's the oldest story in the world!". At times the film is TOO slow and low-key, but I still recommend it to those seeking the offbeat. (**1/2)

No, I didn't really expect much of this. It was given to me by someone who went by what actors was in it, and who does(or did at the time) realize the talent of Nolte. I'm not sure I've heard anything about this, one way or the other. For any other Danes out there, in our tongue, this goes by a title that translates to Innocently Convicted. I tried to give this a chance, I really did. I watched, I paid attention, at least a lot of the way. This begins with an opening sequence that mainly brings to mind the word 'awkward'(and sadly, that's not the last time during the film), and we soon follow ol' Nick investigating a case... uh... sort of. Unfortunately, for both him and the audience(in fact, us in particular... he's a highly paid Hollow-, sorry, *Hollywood*, however did I mix those two up... anyway, actor, and the part he's playing is a fictional character, his pain ends the moment his likeness disappears from the television), every single person that he meets(not the ones he already knew) that has anything, at all, to do with the case is among the all-time weirdest people in the history of human beings. Editing and cinematography are undistinguished and more camera angles would have done wonders. Writing varies. Story-telling is standard. Little in this is effective. At the end of it, you're still not sure what really happened, or what was true and what not. I can basically accept that, if the film built a mood or did something otherwise worthwhile, anything at all, really, except to just create confusion(in the end never relieved) and curiosity as to what the answers are. At least it's not much longer than 90 minutes. I recommend this to mystery fans who are fine with not knowing... and who don't mind something essentially devoid of atmosphere. 5/10

The Chemistry between Winger and Nolte is very dry. If you need a lot of blood, gun play and explosions then this movie is not for you. It unfolds in a tortured manner which I happen to enjoy. The people of this small town are not flashy or larger than life, They are ordinary and have settled into a predictable pattern. The importance of each character is presented to us in an unpredictable sequence which tends to keep the audience off balance and somewhat unsettled. Most of the interplay is understated- another feature which, in an era of grandiosity, is refreshing. If the viewer has the patience to allow the story to unfold the reward will be well worth the investment of time.

Sometimes movies work for a whole variety of reasons. It might simply be because there is a great director at the helm but then even great directors make bummers now and then. Sometimes the story is just so damned good it hardly matters who the director is and sometimes a movie works because one or more of the cast carries it. "Everybody Wins" works because it's got a fine director working at the top of his form, (Karl Reisz), a terrific original screenplay by the playwright Arthur Miller and probably career-best performances from leads Nick Nolte and Debra Winger.

Nolte is the celebrity investigator hired by a flaky 'do-gooder' to prove the innocence of a teenage boy she knows on a charge of murder. From the outset, you know this isn't going to be a conventional 'thriller'. You know instantly that Winger's character of the supposed 'do-gooder' is, shall we say, a little on the strange side; that her come-on to Nolte is so quick she may even be a nymphomaniac and that Nolte's investigation is going off in directions that conventional thrillers don't. You also know that Arthur Miller doesn't do 'conventional'.

Of course, the talent on the screen didn't translate into a commercial success. Even the critics, with the exception of Pauline Kael, who loved the film, were stand-offish. Here was a crime movie that no-one could understand or know what to make of but in its off-the-wall way it was trail-blazingly original and I still think it's one of the truly great American films of its decade. If you don't know it, seek it out and give yourself over to its sublime strangeness.