Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Load of rubbish!!

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

***SPOILERS*** Just one of the string of bombs that Burt Reynolds made in the late 1980's that dropped him from being one the top 3 Hollywood macho man, behind Stallone & Schwarzenegger, actors to the point where he was regulated to doing gust appearances, to get cash, on local TV talk shows about grooming one's mustache as well as his or her dogs & cats. In here Reynolds as the disgraced and on suspension Boston police detective Joe Paris is in hot water in being framed in the murder of one of his stoolies Jake Farley, Tom O'Brien, who's dead body ended up hanging or being grabbed by a local suicide jumper who's death plunge he interrupted. It was Farley who was found dead by Kenny Bates that prevented his attempt to jump , with a rope tied around his neck, to his death off Boston's Tobin Bridge. Already in deep trouble for punching out a police captain and with a score of police brutally charges against him it looks like an open and shut case to pin a murder charge, incredibly his first, against Paris.It's Paris' court appointed attorney Jenny Hudson, Theresa Russell, who takes his case even though Paris, in not impressed in having a woman defend him, is dead set against it. As it soon turns out Jenny does come up with a number of suspects in Farley's murder that can prove her client's innocence. As for Paris who seemed to have lost interest, in how badly the movie is going for him, in if he's found guilty or innocent yet is let out, on good behavior, on the street tracking down and working or beating up suspects as well as carrying a gun that could easily have his bail revoked. There's a number of murders on the side in the film including a star witness in Paris's defense his secret lover Deborah Quinn,Kay Lenz, and her mob connected husband Vincent,Don Grnberry,shows that the late Jake Farley's blackmailing created far more people then Paris who were out to ice him!***SPOILERS*** Confusing final with Paris, to his relief, shot and wounded as well as out of the picture and his lawyer Jenny Hudson being confronted by Farley's as well as some half dozen other people's murderer in a life and death struggle on a deserted and dark staircase. Even though the killer had no trouble at all taking care of a number of people, including 6 foot tall and 200 pounds policemen, he had far more difficulty taking care or killing the 5 foot 5 inch 120 pound Jenny Hudson who must have been practicing beside law judo and Kung Fu on the side! P.S Strange coincident in the film has the man Kenny Bates trying to kill himself by jumping off the Tobin Bridge and failed where almost a year to the date after the movie was released on January 27 1989 real life wife murderer Charles "Chuck" Stewart did-on Januaruy 4, 1990- and succeeded in him trying to avoid capture by the police!

Author Michael Crichton directed this crime mystery starring Burt Reynolds as suspended policeman Joe Paris, who is suspected of murdering an extortionist. With no alibi or money, Joe must use the services of public defender Jenny Hudson(played by Theresa Russell) who has her work cut out for her, since, even though the murdered man had many enemies, so does Joe, making her investigation difficult. Can she save Joe, and not fall in love with him too? Forgettable film was originally conceived as a sequel to "Jagged Edge". When that fell through, it was rewritten to its present form. Indifferently acted and utterly predictable film has little to recommend it.

"Jagged Edge" was quite a success in its day and created a thirst for sexy, mysterious courtroom thrillers, which soon was sated to the nth degree by many imitators. This film first began as a sequel to "Jagged Edge", but when that film's stars Glenn Close and Robert Loggia wisely took a hike, it was reworked with different characters. Reynolds plays a suspended police detective with many brawls in his past and many enemies who is accused of murdering a shady character he'd been tangling with previously. Russell is the public defender assigned to him who is trying to make a name for herself in the boy's club, though Reynolds is often more of a problem to her case than a help. She comes up against various roadblocks and red herrings as she tried to unravel what happened with Reynolds (he blacked out and can't even remember the night in question!) Meanwhile, prosecutor Beatty plays any dirty trick he can and her yuppie boyfriend McGinley whines about how little time she is spending with him. Reynolds was, at this time, in the midst of a string of unsuccessful films which portrayed him as a tough guy despite the fact that his health was failing somewhat and he was no longer able to bring his trademark sparkle to the screen as effectively as he had before. Fortunately for him, the TV series "Evening Shade" would soon rescue him and give him a steady – and award-winning – job for about five years until he made a comeback in supporting roles in feature films a few years after that. If he'd been playing opposite someone more appropriate in age and demeanor than Russell, his performance here probably would have come off better. As it is, he waffles between faint-hearted antagonism and near narcolepsy, battling a preposterous script that wouldn't be worth anyone's effort anyway. Russell is profanely wrong for her role and is often unintentionally funny. Not aided by a severe, all grey and black wardrobe, ugly, over-sized jewelry, tightly-knotted hair and pallid, ghostly make-up, she flounders helplessly as she tries to deliver her lines with anything other than a flat monotone. She seems out of place and shares virtually no chemistry with Reynolds. Beatty (whose "Boston" accent comes and goes) tries to steal every scene he's in and usually succeeds thanks to the lack of opposition on that front. Lenz appears as an ex-love of Reynolds and manages to inject some emotion into her few moments (one of which includes an uproarious Jazzercise get-up.) Gorgeous McGinley is both intentionally and unintentionally funny as the uppity, persnickety jerk with whom Russell lives. His blink-and-miss-it scene walking to their hot tub in some skimpy briefs is about the best thing the film has to offer. Baker, O'Brien and Welsh appear as other potential suspects in the murder (which is revealed in a wacky, tacky prelude involving a suicide attempt.) It's a mind-blowingly idiotic affair that wavers between dullness and jaw-dropping amusement. Though it was routine and inconsequential upon release, at least now it offers up some laughs as McGinley (decked out in the designer gear of the day) and Russell debate the merits of a "cellular phone" and Welsh speaks into one the size of a small Kleenex box! The convoluted plot at least keeps viewers guessing, though it probably left the screenwriters guessing almost as much!

I got a kick out of Reynolds saying to his attorney, "look,I've done a lot of shi%ty thing in my life, but I never killed anyone." Obviously he forgot about his career which slid down hill after he started making stupid movies like 'Cannonball Run.' Physical Evidence was originally supposed to be a sequel to 'The Jagged Edge' that Glen Close sanely rejected. The verdict is in, avoid Physical Evidence.