Sunset Grill

This is a sleazy tale of a slob private eye hunting down his wife's killers. Profanity, gratuitous sex, a cast full of unscrupulous people and even a sub-par quality VHS tape (when I watched this) all made give this a Class B-feel to it and not a movie I would rate higher than a '4."

The story has a big Hispanic flavor to it with settings in E. Los Angeles and Tijuana. The story could have been a good one, but's also too confusing parts and the ending is not quite clear. The whole thing is just too muddled.

Peter Weller and Lori Singer make for an interesting pair in the lead roles. Weller was a pretty appealing likable guy until the last 10 minutes of the movie. Singer, although still young, looks a lot harder in here than in the previous few films of hers. She enjoyed showing off her body in this film, even though it wasn't all that great.

This is a brilliant film and features all of those actors who you recognise but cant put a name to. Peter Weller (Robocop) stars as a detective with a Marx brothers style moustache who has lost the glasses that go with it. He does however find the hide out of some pretty nasty terrorists headed by John Rhys Davies (Indiana Jones and Sliders) One of the terrorists is the highly unapreciated actor Branscombe Richmond (Renegade, Commando, Batman Returns and many more..) he steals what is a pretty poor show with his usual comic routine. The action sequenes are well stage and look out for a cameo by Charles Bronson playing his deathwish character. Overall it lacks focus but is still worth a watch. 8/10

Although I would have preferred to watch a higher calibre crime/thriller than Sunset Grill, I must admit I have seen a lot worse with a more influential cast than who were starring in Sunset Grill.

Peter Weller (best known for his role in Robo Cop) plays a hard drinking, chain-smoking, low end private investigator named Ryder Hart. There is only one thing Ryder loves more than his booze and cigarettes and that is his estranged wife Anita (played by ex Baywatch babe Alexandra Paul), who owns the restaurant bar Sunset Grill. Early in the film we witness Anita's murder by two thugs named Mule and Christian. So Ryder does what any private eye would do in his circumstances after finding out his wife was murdered, he goes out as a lone wolf to find Anita's killers.

Through Ryder's investigation he runs into a pretty eclectic cast of characters such as Stacy Keach who plays a multi millionaire named Harrison Shelgrove and his very pretty assistant named Loren (Played by Lori Singer) who eventually ends up in bed with Ryder. Now Mr. Shelgrove likes to boast to the press that he is on the brink of a huge medical/science discovery but to accomplish this task we find out that Shelgrove's clinic is harvesting human organs from illegal immigrants. Also involved in the illegal activity of capturing the illegal immigrants for organ harvesting is an Immigration agent named Stockton played by John Rhys-Davies. Stockton is being investigated by an FBI agent who is undercover named Joanna and she is played quite well by Kelly Jo Minter.

To add a bit of comedy relief to the storyline we also learn that Ryder used to be a cop and one of his partners was a guy named Lieutenant Jeff Carruthers (played by Michael Anderson Jr.) who just happens to be Ryder's estranged wife Anita's current boyfriend and Carruthers wants to marry Anita once Ryder signs off on the divorce papers. So when the two ex partners find out that Anita has been murdered they agree to join forces to find her killers.

Okay so the film will never win any awards for best screenplay, cinematography, musical score or best actor award but putting that all aside I did like the film for its simple enough plot, good cast of characters and for keeping the film interesting throughout. I give it a 6 out of 10 rating which may be a tad higher than deserved but since I watched the film 23 years after its initial release I can state that it has not lost any of its grit or wit.

Disgraced cop Ryder Hart (Peter Weller) is a low-rent private investigator. His estranged wife Anita (Alexandra Paul) runs the Sunset Grill and dating police detective Jeff. Ryder won't give her a divorce. Anita is murdered by thugs looking for busboy Ricardo. There is a letter from former bar worker Guillermo who was murdered in Tijuana. Ryder finds barcodes in the letter. Harrison Shelgrove (Stacy Keach) deals in Mexican oil and owns a gun club where Loren (Lori Singer) works. There is also crooked INS agent Stockton (Jonathan Rhys-Davies). Joanna Ramirez is Stockton's upright partner. Ryder starts looking for Guillermo but he's soon confronted by thugs.

Ryder is a low-rent P.I. and this is a low-rent crime drama. Director Kevin Connor does a lot of TV movies and that's what this feels like. The interesting talents try to make this a little better but it doesn't have the intensity. Peter Weller tries his hard-boiled best. It looks and feels like a B-movie. The story moves too slowly. By the midway point, I want Ryder to start connecting the dots. Instead, the plot becomes a convoluted mess of indecipherable turns.

This movie misses the mark which is a shame, Peter Weller has talent. A poor attempt at humor in the beginning, it doesn't improve. Weller looks like he is wearing a disguise through the entire movie. Worth a look if nothing else is on.