Reviews

A promising set up with some good performances which built to a terrible anti-climax: no surprises for the audience and very little inspiration from the usually ultra-perceptive, lateral-thinking detective. Matching the third bullet which was introduced early in the story to the gun which fired the other two shots was an obvious solution and should have clearly been something of a subplot. So many areas were left unexplored: the secretary's desire to frame the wife, the fractured relationship between the wife and her lover after Columbo's surprise revelation of the $50,000. Although the Uncle was a little predictable as the guilty party who feels superior to the bumbling detective, this is a normal Columbo device, and so can be forgiven. The run time and skillful build up of the episode do not justify the lacklustre conclusion. It's like the writers went on a lunch break and never came back.

The problem with this film is that it really doesn't go anywhere. It's ostensibly about a man and his taxi - and the first scenes almost show promise, however the film quickly descends into half-developed ideas, self-conscious cuts and dead ends. For 'subtle humour' read 'weak and barely existing'. The plot about the magic gloves starts half way through the film and then fizzles out with a fairly predictable joke. The same format is also used with the home gym/ porn set. On occasion it almost felt like material was shoved in as padding - the girl watching live music footage for example.

The production values are good and the film is shot in an indie way which suggests it will be insightful, engaging and interesting - but sadly it is not.