User Reviews

...but the result is only partially successful. Part of the problem is that the narrative plods to such a degree that for the most part the whole film seems pointless. It's only in the last 30 minutes or so that you realize what Lou Diamond Phillips (who wrote the script and stars) was up to (SPOILERS FOLLOW): he cleverly and subtly reverses the usual genre formulas, turning his character, who is supposed to be the hero and the person for the audience to identify with, into the real villain of the film, while the now cured (?), ex-psychopathic killer, who is shown to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown throughout the movie, turns out to be the character who must save the day! (END OF SPOLIERS). So this is one of those rare films where you don't know where the story is going just by looking at the video cover, and that alone makes it somewhat recommendable. (**)

(SPOILERS GALORE) To the other commenters: How jaded do you have to BE to not be moved by the end of this movie, where Clancey Brown pours the bullets into Lou Diamond Phillips hands?!? I also found it convincing ... perhaps because I've known more than my share of damaged people, I believed that that sequence of events would lead an jerk like Phillip's char to have his terminally ill father killed, just to sell his book. I think it *is* possible that Brown's char could be driven to a murderous rage at one time (by the ubiquitous over-bearing mother), but not be a killer, really, once her influence is removed. I love the fact that the plot is so convoluted that you have NO idea where it's going; I've see probably a billion movies, and can predict the outcome in most of them in the first 15 minutes. I appreciate a writer who can be original, and keep me on my toes. Rent it - judge for your self!

My review was written in June 1991 after a screening in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood.

Lou Diamond Phillips wrote an indulgent vehicle for himself to play heavy in "Ambition". Poorly paced thriller is strictly for Phillips' video fans, though Miramax is according it a theatrical release first.

Pic's original tag "Mind Game" better describes its contents. Phillips portrays aspiring novelist Mitchell Osgood, whose first tome about his Filipino dad (Haing S. Ngor, Oscar-winner for "The Killing Fields") has gone unsold.

He wants to write about mass murderer Albert Merrick (Clancy Brown), but instead he hires the recent parolee to work in his L. A. bookstore.

Osborn is soon revealed as a nogoodnik, manipulating Merrick to bring back his psychosis. Poorly paced film (edited by director Scott D. Goldstein) takes several reels to come to the point: Osgood is setting up Merrick to murder his kvetching dad (Ngor).

While watching a slime take over a weak-willed individual, a la Pinter's "The Servant", has some interest, this ic is too low-key to inolve most viewers. Scene of Phillips reuniting Brown with his mom (Grace Zabriskie) in a restaurant is obviously "acted" rather than an organic extension of the story.

Philliops, as an unconvincing villain. Most often seems to be an actor in a vanity production. Brown, a hulking actor born to play Lennie in "Of Mice and Men", is okay in the psycho role.

Cecilia Peck (Gregory Peck's daughter) is stuck with the nothing part of Osgood's girlfriend. Best acting is by Willard Pugh, providing comic relief as a bookstore assistant. Cast, includng Richard Bradford as a parole officer and Katherine Armstrong as a prostitute, is underutilized. Production values are meager.