Marlowe

Grade: C

Humphrey Bogart, James Garner, and Elliott Gould are a few of the actors who have played detective Philip Marlowe over the years. In Marlowe, out in theaters now, Liam Neeson does the honors, reunited with his Michael Collins director – Neil Jordan.

Marlowe, the movie, looks great. It’s a crime drama set in 1930s Bay City, California – with film noir imagery and dialogue. My favorite shot is a neon sign for the local nightclub (there’s always a nightclub, isn’t there?) reflected in a puddle on the ground. Of the cast, Diane Kruger is the best find for me. She’s been around for a while, but had never been in my radar. The prolific and versatile Alan Cumming shows up, and guess what – he hams it up. It’s nice to see Jessica Lange, Colm Meany, and Ian Hart again. The latter memorably played John Lennon in the Beatles biopic Backbeat, and has been a frequent collaborator with Neil Jordan.

This is one of those complicated murder mystery plots where a femme fatale hires a detective to find a missing person. You need a flow chart, or better yet, a tree-like diagram to keep things straight. Lots of branches and leaves involved. They need to find Person A. He was last seen in the nightclub owned by Person B. B’s son-in-law, C, works at the club and was there that night, and may have seen something. A’s driver is Person D. A has a friend, E, who is good at making problems go away, and meanwhile a few of A’s side lovers – F, G, and H – might be of help. You start with H or beyond, and can only hope to climb to the top of the alphabet. Oh, and since it’s 1:00 on a Monday afternoon and you’re in Marlowe’s office: care for a cigarette and a stiff drink?

Director Neil Jordan has a varied and interesting filmography under his belt, that includes The End of the Affair, In Dreams, Interview With the Vampire, The Crying Game, and We’re No Angels. Marlowe isn’t the worst movie of the year so far, but it’s the one that made me the most apathetic. And that’s almost worse.

Grade: C