Film Reviews

Twisted

• Rating:
• Director: Philip Kaufman
• Starring: Andy Garcia
• Details: US / 97 mins / (15PG).

What's the last good Ashley Judd movie you saw? More to the point, has she ever starred in anything beyond what you'd charitably describe as limited? Certainly she doesn't do herself or her career any favours with this remarkably one-dimensional serial killer flick. Turning in another shallow performance as a chick with attitude, Judd plays Jessica Shepard, a hard drinking, hard living cop on the streets of San Francisco. Her latest case sees her chasing a killer who is knocking off men the sexually voracious
Jessica has nailed over the years. Needless to say, this nasty trend soon makes our girl chief suspect in the case, something which doesn't exactly endear her to her peers. Oh, and did I mention the fact that Jessica's own father was also a cop who lost it on a murderous rampage, which culminated in him killing his own wife and himself?

A movie for which the word implausible was invented for; Twisted is one of those turgid psychological dramas, which imagines itself to be a whole lot cleverer than it actually is. Preposterously plotted, the screenplay by first-timer writer Sarah Thorp ruthlessly ticks off every cliche in the book, without any regard for the audience's sanity. Indeed, that director Philip Kaufman lent his unquestionable talent to this pap is about the only surprise about the film. Though it's unlikely any actress could emerge from a role like Twisted with her credibility intact, Judd shows herself to have a particularly limited dramatic range. That her co-stars phone in their performances doesn't help, but Judd is still particularly woeful.

Review by Garreth Murphy