A Slight Case of Murder

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.

"A Simple Case of Murder" is a tight and clever little noirish caper comedy-drama made for commercial tv. William H. Macy, that "Fargo" guy, is at the center as a film critic who has an argument with a lady friend who slips, hits her head and dies. What follows is a slow, one step forward and two back unraveling of Macy's cover up scheme which leads to extortion, robbery, murder and lots of tongue-in-cheek humor while Macy narrates from both sides of the camera. A fun little "sleeper" on video.

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.

"A Slight Case of Murder" is an excellent TV movie, which is defiantly worth the price of a rental. William H. Macy is great as a movie critic who accidentally kills his mistress, and then has to try to conceal the crime. Although that may sound dark, the film is actually quite light hearted and funny, with many memorable lines ("Acting is harder than I thought- you ever see BODY HEAT? I think I owe Bill Hurt an apology" and my personal favourite "For next week answer these two questions about film noir, What do these people do during the day? and Why is it always raining?). The film has a great supporting cast including Macy's real life wife Felcity Huffman, James Cromwell and Adam Arkin. A must see for Macy fans!

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".