Son alibi

A lot of us go through our quite ordinary lives daydreaming about being these larger than life characters, so I thought that this story about this sheltered and detached mystery writer, Phillip Blackwood, was quite good because of the funny and endearing way it relates to being a dreamer.

I'm a big Tom Selleck fan, since his days as island hopping P.I. Thomas Magnum, and I think he was the perfect fit for the role of Phil Blackwood. Selleck is this tall, good-looking dude who looks the part of your typical hero or action star, but he is able to come across as this almost goofy, nice guy, and I think those are the qualities that make Thomas Magnum and Phillip Blackwood such great characters. The contradictions between the characters' physical appearances and their personalities make them very easy to like and root for.

I liked the rest of the cast too. Paulina Porizkova was stunningly beautiful and I liked her in her role. The actors who played Blackwood's agent and brother were very funny in their roles.

I recommend this movie. It is lighthearted, funny, and quite charming.

Though not a masterpiece of film-making, HER ALIBI makes for a pleasant change from the violent films that Hollywood keeps on churning out. Tom Selleck and model-cum-actress Paulina Porizkova generate some genuine sparks on-screen in this lighthearted comedy/mystery. Selleck does well in the role of a once-popular mystery writer, while Porizkova, better known for her model-perfect looks, satisfies as the mysterious foreigner who captures the heart of Selleck.

Her Alibi is a very enjoyable movie with a little intrigue and the most beautiful girl in the world. I have been madly, passionately in love with Paulina Porizkova since seeing her in Vogue in about 1985. I envy Tom Selleck. Paulina can cut my hair any time. The thing I like is how natural she acts. She seems more relaxed than some of the other more experienced actresses. I have seen other models try screen acting with disastrous results. Tom Sellick plays his part well; that of a man so besotted with this heavenly creature that he finishes up doing silly things. That happens to many men in the same situation.

A good movie topped off with a divine woman.

Her Alibi (1989) directed by Bruce Beresford, is a very funny, but totally predictable, murder mystery. Tom Selleck plays Phil Blackwood, a mystery writer whose stories are as predictable as the film's plot. Phil has run out of creative steam and his reputation is diminishing.

Paulina Porizkova plays Nina, who is a beautiful (very) Romanian who may or may not be a murderer.

From the moment Phil sees Nina, we can guess where the movie is going. In other words, Her Alibi isn't really a mystery. What makes the film enjoyable isn't the plot, but the technique Beresford utilizes. We see a scene, and hear Selleck's voice- over as he writes the scene into his novel. Of course, what we see and what we hear are two totally different versions of reality. The contrast really is very funny.

William Daniels does well as Sam, Selleck's long-suffering publisher. Porizkova can't act, but nobody will notice. Selleck plays Selleck.

If you want to see fine film-making, rent Beresford's Breaker Morant. If you want to laugh at a film with no social significance at all, rent Her Alibi.

Always likable Tom Selleck is well cast as a mediocre mystery writer (VERY mediocre, based on the samples of his writing we get in the voice-over narrations, which are one of the funniest parts of the movie). He's looking for a plot for his next book and finding it in the person of a beautiful Romanian college student (Paulina Porizkova) who seems to be hiding some big secret. The movie plays like the plot of a bad detective book, with perceptions of the female character shifting from dangerous to trustworthy to suspicious and back. The chemistry between the characters works very well romantically as both characters begin to fall in love despite being wary and suspicious of the various goings-on, and the Romanian KGB agents on Paulina's trail make for useful comic villains.