How sad is this?

As Good As It Gets

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Suspect Device is not a good movie, but it's not a *bad* bad movie. It's surprisingly riveting as you're watching it, but when the credits start rolling, you suddenly realize nothing you've just seen made any sense whatsoever. It barely stops once it starts, that's why. It's obviously riffing off of Terminator 2, with a sort of Fugitive vibe.C Thomas Howell, a staple in these films, stars as a business worker for the government who is plagued by violent dreams of people around him getting killed, and one day he wakes up and they are. What you must do is run with this movie, and don't stop and question the plot holes or the whole film caves in.**1/2 out of 5

If you ignore the cheesy Corman-level of special effects, direction, and all things related to budget, this turns out to be a good movie. No, really. In the first 30, 40 Minutes you may shake your head in disbelief, how miscast the main character for it role is - but later on, the story gets going, and it all fits. Nice ideas, especially for the genre.OK, it is still a cheesy, cheap flick, but I am about certain, if it was filmed with expensive actors, effects and direction, there would be about nothing left of what makes it interesting. They simply wouldn't have dared to leave the good parts of the story intact, especially the ending (which I rather like).It's good for TV; it's an OK rental, it's a no-no for cinema - except for those trash-movie "vote your movies" nights, if you have those where you live. If it's on TV and you don't have anything else to do, watch it.

It's standard stuff for the first half or so, with a plot that's a pretty blatant rip-off of THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR. Then suddenly we get some twists in the plot that are so silly and/or jaw-dropping, you can't help but get sucked in. And it had a very memorable ending. Film suffers from typical Roger Corman cheapness (including ripping off footage from a famous made-for-tv movie), and the action scenes sometimes get pretty dumb, especially when you see wimpy C. Thomas Howell attempting to be an action hero. Verdict: if you like B-movies, and you don't mind them a little cheesy, you'll probably like this.

Lot of potential in plot but somehow it didn't flow as it should have (poor direction?). Good acting by C. Thomas and lead actress.