Jade

This is Friedkin back to the hackery of The Guardian. Indeed, from the prowling camera tour of the baroque oriental San Francisco mansion of a millionaire playboy, to the creepy choral music and jarring soundtrack, this ugly murder thriller pushes close to horror movie territory. It's motored by the same engine common to many of that genre: male fear of the female libido. Predictability, risibility and degeneracy vie in Joe Eszterhas's script: assistant DA Corelli (Caruso), regarding the millionaire's flailed corpse, remarks, 'This is rage!', while a colleague, noting it's election year, laments, 'The media is going to turn this into an X-rated gang bang!' The libido in question belongs to unlikely psychologist of workplace violence Trina Gavin (Fiorentino): married to amoral lawyer Matt (Palminteri), and one-time lover of the still ardent Corelli, she was the last person to see the millionaire alive and is thus prime supect. The role strips Fiorentino of charisma and grace. Caruso, too, has little to do and does it poorly. Thrown in are a few hackneyed Friedkin 'show-stoppers': an extended car chase, and a variation on the car-with-cut-brake-cables number. Camerman Andrzej Bartkowiak does little more than provide a sheeny gloss on standard ritzy SF locations. Bad.