It's New Year's Eve in NYC. Manhattan socialite Alison Hawkins is killed by a serial killer in her apartment as his 11th victim. Her best friend Bernadette Flynn (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) just dropped her off and just happens to be the mayor's daughter. Police commissioner Frank Starkey (Harvey Keitel) is under heavy pressure and Mayor Flynn (Rod Steiger) forces him to get his brother Nick Starkey (Kevin Kline). Nick was expelled from the force in disgraced two years ago and is now a hero firefighter. Frank's wife Christine (Susan Sarandon) is Nick's ex-girlfriend. Capt. Vincent Alcoa (Danny Aiello) hates the idea. Ed (Alan Rickman) is Nick's wacky artistic neighbor.
The tone is all over the place. I wonder if the movie realizes that it's trying to make funny jokes in the middle of a serial killer movie. The problem is that the jokes are so wildly uncontrolled that it wouldn't be funny anyways. Everybody seems to be in their own separate movies. Aiello and Steiger are screaming. Kline and Rickman are wacky. Kline and Sarandon are doing a weird melodrama. Keitel is simply trying to survive the mess. Mastrantonio is in a different movie aka the serious serial killer movie and she's no 23. The switches in tone gave me whiplash. The final chase is way too wacky. The killer is doing blackface with white shinny gloves. They turn it into a farce and any chance the movie had goes away.
The tone is all over the place. I wonder if the movie realizes that it's trying to make funny jokes in the middle of a serial killer movie. The problem is that the jokes are so wildly uncontrolled that it wouldn't be funny anyways. Everybody seems to be in their own separate movies. Aiello and Steiger are screaming. Kline and Rickman are wacky. Kline and Sarandon are doing a weird melodrama. Keitel is simply trying to survive the mess. Mastrantonio is in a different movie aka the serious serial killer movie and she's no 23. The switches in tone gave me whiplash. The final chase is way too wacky. The killer is doing blackface with white shinny gloves. They turn it into a farce and any chance the movie had goes away.