Sorry, this movie sucks

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The 1980's saw the release of a lot of silly and trashy movies, that were heavy on style but light on substance. "Mike's Murder" is not one of those films. This is a very well constructed mystery thriller; a "film-noir" in broad daylight,if you will. Los Angeles provides a deceptively bright backdrop for this story, which is quite dark and sinister. The fact that we get to see into a dark, seedy L.A. Underworld of drugs and prostitution, through the eyes of a "normal citizen," like Debra Winger's 'Betty,' makes everything so much more believable. Betty's tennis coach and sometime lover, Mike, is living a double life. By day he is a tennis coach to rich older ladies, but by night he deals cocaine, and at times sells his body to both women and men, in order to maintain his flashy, drug fueled lifestyle. The viewer is along for the ride, finding out bits and pieces of a sinister puzzle, alongside Betty Parish, after she is told that her lover was violently murdered in a drug deal gone wrong. Being a normal, law abiding girl, with a straight job as a bank teller, Betty quickly finds herself out of her league and terrified at what she is discovering about her lover. The great thing about "Mike's Murder" is how well it is constructed; the story unfolds slowly, but deliberately, and keeps it's audience truly on the edge, waiting to find out just how far it will go. It helps if the viewer has a fascination with the lifestyles depicted here; others might just be lost, and wondering what the point of it is. This is not a flashy film, that relies on impressive camera angles or quick cut editing. Instead we have an old fashioned style movie, that tells a tale with facial expressions, and music, and a masterfully told story. I imagine the critics of this gem must surely have the attention spans of children; I just cannot understand how anyone could consider THIS a bad movie. It isn't really a commercial film, and it's no surprise that it did poorly at the box office; films like this rarely become "blockbusters." Still, it seems to have stuck in the memories of a lot of people, including mine; I saw it as a young teen in the mid 80's; and I never forgot it. I found the world of Mike to be fascinating and terrifying; and I still do. And I've known a few guys like Mike, and they are all no longer living. I recommend this exciting film to those who can appreciate a good mystery.

I hadn't seen this movie in about 30 years, but the title rang a bell and I got the DVD. The cast is excellent, and their performances were solid. I found myself remembering quite a bit of the film while viewing (I would know what was coming up before it came on screen), which made me realize this film had quite a profound impact on me and my memory. It was intense without being melodramatic.

Scrappy, long on-the-shelf film by director James Bridges concerns bank-teller Debra Winger's obsession over finding out what happened to a guy she was dating, who has mysteriously vanished. Bridges put this together with Winger after their partnership on "Urban Cowboy", but it was a career low-point for both. Many trips to the editing room couldn't salvage it (causing one to wonder, did it have its soul removed or was there never a soul to begin with?). If you can get through the muddled introductions, Paul Winfield manages a thoughtful performance as a gay music executive, and Winger does well with a very sketchy role. Joe Jackson performs three forgettable songs (his soundtrack album was already out and gathering dust by the time this picture finally arrived in theaters). *1/2 from ****

I had the misfortune of being in the test audience prior to this movie being released while I was visiting Los Angeles. The producers and the director was there listening to the audience reaction and it couldn't have been worse. The scenes where the characters were trying to bring home a dramatic point were being met with raucous laughter in the crowd. And one look on the faces of the those involved in the production was enough to see that this film was a loser. Normally I like Debra Winger but the dialogue and supporting cast especially the guy playing "Mike" was woefully bad. Stay away from this one.