One Way Out

Harry Woltz is a homicide cop with a gambling problem; a problem that leaves him owing a great deal of money to the Russell brothers. To clear the debt they ask him to train John Farrow to murder his wife, Evans, without leaving the usual clues or making the usual mistakes. However when Harry's ex-partner is put on the case, she begins to get closer than Harry had thought before the case takes some unexpected twists.

Despite the fact that it never saw the inside of a cinema in the US never mind here, I still gave this film a go. The plot is pretty weak but is noir-ish and could have worked better and been darker than it was. Sadly it is quite obvious and so full of holes that you could put your head through to see what was on the other side! This isn't helped by the fact that the film tries to create a dark, noir mood by having a rubbish harmonica soundtrack all the way through - supposedly played by Harry. In the end it all comes down to just where you expect it to and, while the ending would have worked well in a better film, it has no emotion here.

It is not just plot that the film shows it's low values. The direction is workmanlike, the sets are average, the shots let the boom come into view far too often and so on and so forth. The whole thing feels like a TVM at best and I can see why it never reached the cinema! The cast follow this trend with a series of performances that at best are average. Belushi would like to think he can play a dark cop in a noir but he can't - he is miscast and struggles. He is the reason the ending lacks punch and he also takes away from the noir effect of the film. Bateman is OK in support despite not looking as good as he projects with all that stubble. The rest of the support cast are just wallpaper whether in big roles or small.

Overall this film is not awful, it is just poor and uninteresting. The plot and the delivery suggest it wanted to be some sort of noir but it is faking it and doesn't convince. The mood is plastered on in a fake and unimpressive manner, the plot is full of holes and the actors are only average, with a big piece of miscasting and bad acting when it comes to the lead role of Harry.

Clumsily-plotted thriller that has framed innocent James Belushi stumbling along trying to piece together the clues that prove he is not linked with the murder of a woman. Tired script relies on cliches and Belushi--a talented comedian and just plain funny guy--is way out of his league as a serious guy who has to show real emotions. I like Belushi--I don't like this movie.

Mediocre to an extreme.

2/5 stars.

• John Ulmer

To pay off a gambling debt, police detective Harry Woltz (Jim Belushi) is forced to teach John Farrow (Jason Bateman) in murdering his wife. The case falls to his ex-partner Gwen Buckley (Angela Featherstone) and he starts feeling the heat.

The originating incident is convoluted. It would be so much simpler if Harry is forced to kill the wife himself. The rest is a lot of twisting and bending to get to the same place. I guess he's less emotionally guilty if he didn't intend to pull the trigger himself but that's a distinction without a difference. He's on the hook for murder either way. As for Jim himself, it always struck me as silly for him to play a hard-boiled detective. This one is a little better since he's corrupt. He's good at sleazy. He's either that or be completely silly. I can't take him as the heroic type. This would work better if he is internally corrupt rather than being a good man who did one corrupt thing.

First things first - let's lay out the dirty linen: I avoided this thing during normal waking hours, given the 'noir' log-line and the Jim Belushi principal. But between 3 and 5 am, this film was pure gold. Sometimes things just work out that way, especially if you miss the first 10-20 minutes, as I did; years of insomniac viewing have taught me that some beginnings are better missed than seen.

Such was my approach to 'One Way Out' - and it paid off.

How could I have expected Jim Belushi to pull off a Michael Chiklis-like transformation and play a corrupt cop, caught between a rock and a hard place? In fact, the performance is so compelling that it threw me off of the main arc of the plot: While the story may be a bit formulaic, Belushi's performance is a wonderful distraction - I didn't even see the denouement coming, until I was watching it on screen.

In my opinion, this was a far, far better film than the Paltrow/Douglas/Mortenson vehicle of 'A Perfect Murder', as the actors here play against type, and triumph over the material.

Highly recommended! Furthermore, Angela Featherstone, Jason Bateman and Guylaine St. Onge provide excellent support. Not a dull moment.

While I'm not sure that I could recommend this film for viewing during the light of day, I *highly* recommend this movie for it's late night/early morning consumption. A qualified 8/10.

One Way Out, the new James Belushi movie is a direct to the video flick and it's developed and conceive such as common product nothing to more. The story of the Detective Harry Woltz and his double life between murders and night club can be much more interesting and good writer, with more intelligence, threatening expression and human evil. Also the leading role is too low and normally good for be believable and fascinating. The movie starting low with stereotyped characters, then grow up with more suspense, good facts and tension till to the end when all the good thinks fall in a sugary and foolish love story. James Belushi is good but too old for this charming and fine role, much better when he do the sympathy scoundrel as in `Made Men' or the totally obscure police man of `Gang Related'. Nothing to very bad, the movie leave it till to end, but good only for the video or TV movie. My rate is 5.