Twisted Details

Ashley Judd chalks up another addition to her tortured female canon in this monotonous thriller from Quills director Philip Kaufman. Joined by Andy Garcia as her cop partner, she plays a newly promoted police inspector hunting for a serial killer who's murdering her casual lovers. While colleagues quickly point the finger at Judd, much to the consternation of her mentor and commissioner, Samuel L Jackson, Kaufman is more indiscriminate with his accusations. Throwaway dialogue, constant close-ups and stalker-style tracking shots set up almost every character as a suspect without any concrete reason. There are so many red herrings and so little real action that it all becomes tiresome, especially when Judd's contribution is a repeated cycle of drinking, passing out and waking up to discover another corpse has turned up. Though hers is a role normally filled by a man, like the rest of the core cast she's suffocated by the overall weakness of the plot and script. With no suspense or credibility, there's nothing to save this wasteful mess.