Memorable, crazy movie

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

A voluptuously seedy tale of blackmail, murder and double-cross, "Devil in a Blue Dress" captures splendidly the mood of the forties, and is a worthy modern equivalent to old gems such as "Double Indemnity", "The Blue Dahlia" and "The Big Sleep".It's summer in Los Angeles, 1948. Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins (Denzel Washington) returned from World War II a few years ago to a land of opportunity. He got a job, a mortgage and a home of his own. But now he has lost his job and is determined not to lose his house. A friend introduces Easy to a sleazy character named DeWitt Albright (Tom Sizemore) who ostensibly is trying to locate the former girlfriend of mayoral candidate Tom Carter (Terry Kinney) so that the couple may be reunited. Desperate to keep making his mortgage payments, Easy accepts the job of finding the girlfriend, a woman named Daphne Monet (Jennifer Beals). His search causes him to be suspect in several murders and arouses the interest of the rival candidate for mayor, Matthew Teran (Maury Chaykin). Easy finds that he is not the only person looking for Daphne Monet and that no one is exactly who he, or she, appears to be. There's strong acting by all the members of the cast. Washington brings his typical integrity and likability to Easy, and Don Cheadle almost steals the show. Mouse is quick to kill, basically a psycho, but a great friend to have. Also noteworthy is Tom Sizemore as a ruthless, cold-blooded bad guy and Jennifer Beals is alluring as the mysterious "Daphne Monet." Regardless, this is a fascinating movie that just oozes with the 1940's atmosphere. Great narration in there, a la film noir, great automobiles and great sets. It puts you right into the late 40's in Los Angeles, a little bit like the film Chinatown.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

The mood and atmosphere is musically enchanting and you feel like you're descending into a seedy world on the wrong side of the tracks just this side of luxury and affluence and power and politics and wise guys who know where the real money is stashed. This is a wonderful little Private Eye story about on the level of LADY IN THE LAKE with Robert Montgomery, but Easy Rawlins is here to ferret out the clues from a Black perspective. He does not come to the world of private investigation willingly, but rather has it thrust upon him due to circumstances of unemployment. He is sitting in the bar of his friend Joppy, searching through the want ads when he finds out there is a white man with a job for him.He asks none of the questions he might have with a mortgage to pay on a new house and sundry other expenses. He is simply scuffling to assimilate into the newly emerging Black Middle Class in Los Angeles. Therefore he agrees to meet with a Dewitt Albright, and agrees to search for and find a white woman who has retreated into obscurity within the Black Community. He takes his initial payment and prepares to set to work to locate Daphne Monet. The task on the face of it sounds, well, 'easy', but this is just the beginning of the story...Pretty Boy Rawlins begins to scout around and has his questions answered with questions by an associate and friend of Daphne named Coretta James. Sooner than later, Coretta winds up a stiff and Rawlins finds himself swirling to the bottom of a whole lot of trouble...Denzel Washington is spot on as Easy Rawlings, who simply wants to settle down into a middle class life with the rest of the World War II veterans, but finds his true calling as a Private Investigator. Don Cheadle nearly steals the whole show as Miles Alexander, (originally 'Mouse' in the novel) and comes across as a community icon or archetype. Most Black People will tell you every neighborhood has its 'Mouse' or 'Miles' Alexander. The little guy with a heart of gold, but who you would not leave an alley fight with alive. Don Cheadle channels this personality so well, that it is only Denzel Washington's exceptional acting ability that keeps him from being the Green Hornet to Cheadle's version of Kato.Jennifer Beals is suitably elegant and wonderful as Daphne Monet, but I could not help thinking what it would have been like to have Cassidy Rae, Julia Styles or Ali Larter play Ms. Monet, as these actresses more physically resemble the character in the novel. But she works so well in the ensemble that this is just a moot point. There is also a love scene in the novel that was left out of the film, but I suppose Easy Rawlins can't hit all the spots in Los Angeles.Like the MALTESE FALCON, the film version of DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS is actually an improvement upon the novel, and some of the reviewers here and many people in my neck of the woods would heartily welcome the further adventures of Easy Rawlins on film. This DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS could have been the DOCTOR NO to a whole series of adventures, but that was over twenty years ago now. This could have been suggested at the end of this film simply by having Easy pick up a ringing phone to hear a voice at the other end requesting his help.But there is no time like the present and it's never too late for new adventures.

"You step out of your door in the morning and you're already in trouble. The only question is: are you on top of that trouble or not?" - Easy Rawlins "Devil In A Blue Dress" wants to be the African American "Chinatown", and director Carl Franklin comes close. All the noir ingredients are here - a gumshoe with a cool name (Easy Rawlins, played by Denzel Washington), moody cinematography, an LA location, a missing woman, femme fatales, a last act revelation, the genre's usual assortment of crooks, conflicts, seedy joints and crooked cops etc – but Franklin isn't strong enough a stylist to make his noir landscape come alive, isn't skilled enough a director to maintain the tension and isn't deep enough an artist to handle anything more than themes of racism and prejudice, though his film does address the white-centric view of 1940s LA which most noirs erroneously put forth.7.9/10 – This film would play better with stronger dialogue. As it is, it has no contemporary relevance or connection and exists only to satisfy a certain "noir nostalgia". Still, like De Niro's "True Confessions", this is a worthy second tier neo-noir. Makes a good companion piece to "Mulholland Falls", "Hollywoodland", "LA Confidential" and "Lonelyhearts", four other "not quiet successful" modern neo noirs set in the 1940s.Worth one viewing.

The acting is up to professional standards. Denzel Washington is in the lead as a jobless ex-GI in 1947 Los Angeles who is hired by a stranger to find a white girl named Daphne. He does a good job, as usual, without being in the least extravagant. The supporting players are all equally good, with Don Cheadle in the flashiest role as a friendly killer.Jennifer Beals as the mysterious and missing devil in the blue dress is competent and attractive. You have never seen such huge, glistening black eyes. Why hasn't she gotten better parts? Location shooting is done carefully too. Lots of nice shots of seedier locations as well as a couple of the kind of faux country estates we saw so often on "Columbo." Washington, of course, is African-American, and Beals is passable as a Creole from Louisiana. Relationships between the police and the black community are sketched out in what's probably realistic detail. The heavy handedness of the cops should come as no surprise to anyone who's seen "L.A. Confidential," although it may shock some who grew up on "Dragnet." The racial divide isn't imposed willy nilly on the script, either. This is an unashamed noir. There's no attempt to make racism the central issue. It may be difficult for some of us to accept the notion that a politician's marriage to a woman who is partly of black parentage would stultify his career but it was true enough.Still, the movie fails to engage. The narrative is murky, the action turgid, and there is a narration by Washington that serves as a familiar crutch for a weak story. It does nothing more than fill us in on the details of Washington's peregrinations, without adding anything more. It's Raymond Chandler without the fustian poetry or the scintillating cynicism. Washington's voice over never tells us that some babe had "hair the color of gold in old paintings." It only tells us things like, "I figured I'd better get out of there." I didn't really care much about anyone but Washington's out-of-work nice guy. I wanted him to make enough money to pay off his mortgage. That was about it. Well -- of course I didn't want to see Jennifer Beals tortured with that red hot poker either, although I wouldn't have minded if her captors had torn her clothes a little. Or, I guess the script could even have let her take a long, languorous bath.Chandler and Hammett never had especially gripping characters either but Chandler carried us along with his blunt, boozy charm, and Hammett bootlegged in a philosophy of life.Speaking of "carried," Washington has a line he speaks to Beals. "Change out of that house coat. Come on, I'll carry you home." Washington doesn't mean he's going to sweep her up in his arms and schlep her across town. He means he's going to escort her home in his vehicle. This is an old-fashioned, mostly Southern usage. It dates back to before the Civil War, as in "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny." I didn't mean to carry on so, but that sentence was one of the few things in the movie that roused my attention.