Black & White Reviews

Blessed with a glorious over-bite and exuding sensuality, Gina Gershon is a welcome distraction in trash like SHOWGIRLS and an asset to top-drawer entertainment like LEGALESE. In this routine killer-cop flick, she gives credence to the script's shaky psychologizing and manages to looks sexy even when she's being shot at. Detective Nora Hugosian (Gershon) is an LAPD legend who mainly trains her new partners in the bedroom, where its strictly shoot first, ask questions later. While Nora breaks in new recruit Chris O'Brien (Rory Cochrane), her vindictive ex-lover Simon Hertzel (Ron Silver) gets busy investigating Nora's suspected vigilante behavior for Internal Affairs. After two of Nora's recent perps meet untimely ends, Lieutenant Lynn Dumbrowski (Alison Eastwood) tries to clear Nora and enlists Chris's help. Chris begins to worry, however, when a fellow rookie is found slain at the apartment of Nora's suicidal ex-partner Michael Clemence (Ross Partridge), and someone tries to gun him down. Concentrating on gritty atmospherics, this crime drama trips up on its own plot twists and obvious red herrings; the wobbly screenplay pads itself out with its conjecture about Nora's past in order to point the audience in several wrong directions. A surprise ending isn't sufficient compensation for false leads, shoehorned exposition, and tortoise pacing. Gershon works overtime, but she can't lend her co-star Cochrane the charisma he needs, nor can she insert tension into tedium or make the labored double entendres seem witty. She does, however, sook fabulous while trying.