A Slight Case of Murder

William H. Macy is brilliant as Everyman caught in a desperate situation. Starts off with a bang and never lets up. Twists and surprises are fresh, unpredictable. Use of film noir clips and frequent quotes and references to 30's and 40's flicks makes this a delightful "must" for movie buffs.

when I realized that the main character in this movie is the same man (William H. Macy) who provocate all the deaths in FARGO. I said "man, you are a real maniatic". the story has his own way to tell the story.

also the camera takes are fantastic. the first take "going up the building" are awsome, very clever.

I trully recommend this picture, not only because the story, is a great movie if you're a "Movie Classics Lover".

William H. Macy is dealing with "A Slight Case of Murder" as well as with his libido and blackmail in this 1999 TNT movie. The film also stars Felicity Huffman, Adam Arkin, James Cromwell, Julia Campbell, Paul Mazurski, and Vincent Pastore.

Macy plays a film critic and teacher, Terry Thorpe, who accidentally kills his girlfriend and becomes frantic to cover up the crime and hide the body. The matter is complicated by a detective (Cromwell) who saw him at the building and is now attempting to blackmail him. Then Thorpe makes the fatal mistake of getting involved with someone else -- someone else besides his other, alive girlfriend, played by Felicity Huffman.

Using a convention from Columbo, Thorpe works on forming a friendship with the detective assigned to the case, Stapelli (Arkin) - which has interesting consequences.

Macy is the same befuddled wreck that he was in Fargo, but he's smarter and more worldly. He gives a wonderful, wacky performance in a film that is filled with all kinds of humorous dialogue and humorous moments, despite the subject. A fresh twist on the film noir. Recommended.

William Macy is perfect in this unique contemporary film noir. The look is 40's although its not really a period piece. The interaction of Adam Arkin and Macy is electric, with multiple cat and mouse games being played.

This movie raises the bar in TV movies, and is an intelligent entertainment with an unguessable ending.

Loved it.

It is probably the reductio ad absurdum of the self-conscious neo-noir that its ultimate hero/villain/victim should be a film critic, about as far removed from the original prole/lower-middle-class noir heroes (e.g. 'The Postman Always Rings Twice', 'Double Indemnity') as you could get. Faced with a crisis, Terry Thorpe turns it into a screenplay, a fiction. And this is what saves the film from smart-alecky ghastliness - it is a film about mid-life crisis, the flaws and difficulties of the modern affluent, middle-aged man. it seems like noir can still speak for people rather than to itself, but this often palls - the best joke is a corpse called Laura who doesn't get up.