Trixie

Emily Watson is a charmer: she's completely naive and innocent, but then again she's not so naive, and maybe not so innocent. She seems to understand nothing, but then she's the only one who understands it all.

Watson's tour-de-force is in playing Trixie completely straight, malapropisms and all. Yeah, the twisted idioms get tired after a while, at least until a funnier one shows up.

Definitely for art house movie lovers and not the megaplex.

Brilliant mixed metaphors, fabulous dialogue. I can see how someone may not like it if they don't get or don't like word play, but if you like a good turn of phrase I highly recommend it! Huzzah for John Binder, whoever he is, not much on his resume, I can't wait for the next script!

Ok - I have to admit....this movie was painful. Just painful to sit there and take all those mixed metaphors like punches to the head. BUT...I stumbled across this movie on a Sunday afternoon. Never heard of it..no expectations, etc. And actually had a good time watching it. My wife hated it (so she says) but we both laughed and kept rolling our eyes at each other throughout the movie. It was like reading a trashy novel...the characters were total stereotypes (the young, good looking womanizer (trying to have a heart of gold), the drunk, corrupt senator (always grabbing ass, etc) and of course the favorite - the bumbling, almost moronic detective making it all happen -kind of like a female Inspector Clouseau only with less physical humor and more verbal humor. Some of the words that came out of her mouth were really funny - like "I woke up unconscious" and my personal favorite, "Do you think I have a ace up my hole?" I wouldn't go out of your way to see this movie but if you come across it one afternoon....see how long you can stand it :)

I had heard that the malapropism of Emily Watson's character would begin to wear after a while. Not for me, it was like watching a seriously deadpan Gracie Allen at work.

The key to the film (which covers some of the same territory as "Fargo" and contains a few references to the movie) is the realization that it is not only Watson's character whose utterances are ridiculous, but those of the major characters, but Red's description of his relationship to the dead woman and Senator Avery's comments to the reporters show a similar dislocation with reality and sense. We start by realizing that her comments are off the wall, but they turn out to be nothing compared to the double-speak that we have become accustomed to coming out of the mouths of politicians and developers.

The ending is a bit harum-scarum but overall a very enjoyable movie. The plot twists at the end weakened it, although they were very much in keeping with the noir genre.

This movie has grown on me immensely. The first time I saw it, it struck me poorly. I didn't like the plot or characters. I've seen it twice since then. I was surprised to find how funny it was a second time. Truth be told, Trixie is the sweetest detective ever written. She's obsessed with the truth and lives by no other code, solving the case almost by accident. There is a sexy all star cast to back her up and they all play magnificently. The real joke of the movie is Trixie's ability to get well known sayings wrong, which is explained by her injury as a child from a bowling ball on the head (mentioned very quickly in a hospital scene). She says things like, "Stop right there where you are in your tracks!" Her timing is perfect and Ms. Watson's performance is endearing. Good show, all around.