Dead End

This trash, which was given an equally meaningless title "False Pretense" for Australian television, could have been very good. To start with the leads are played by two excellent actors Eric Roberts and Jacob Tierney - and their sensitive portrayals of father and son make some scenes quite powerful. But then the cliches start to pile up and the plot becomes ludicrous. The cops are stereotypes, the prostitutes are stereotypes (all with hearts of gold of course), and there is a particularly offensive portrayal of a gay man that puts the work of the gay movement back 20 years. This man's attempted seduction of Tierney is so offensive to our hero Roberts that he beats the man savagely to the ground and kicks his head in with his boot. And of course later suffers no remorse (because the "f....t" deserved it?!?!).

The happy families conclusion is so absurd that any good work done by the actors is completely undermined. Shame, everyone, shame. Please someone give Roberts a really great role in a great film so we can see the old "Runaway Train" magic again.

Ugh! In a film about a high priced call girl's murder, you would expect a high sleaze factor. Well that isn't the case. What you get is an estranged father (Eric Roberts) and son (Jacob Tierney) bonding movie. There is the usual friction and pretty much nothing happens until a very convoluted police investigation commences. Unfortunately "Dead End" telegraphs everything, and is astonishingly predictable. Shoddy police work aside, there isn't much here to grab onto. Ultimately the lack of believability becomes unbearable, and you will be reaching for the fast forward button. This is for Eric Roberts completests only. Others beware ! - MERK

I happened to think this movie was pretty good even if some don't like it. It wasn't very mysterious because you can guess who done it from the beginning. Maybe its because I'm a teenager and think Jacob Tierney's hott but i liked the movie.

I saw this movie late one night on Showtime. Mediocre acting, routine plot (the synopsis says it all and spoils any kind of suspense there might be). We had the most fun making fun of the cast and comments on the apartment. Reminded me of so many other movies. If you like movies like Desparado (so bad it's good) then this is the movie for you.