First Degree Reviews

FIRST DEGREE is a somber, plodding murder mystery for undemanding fans of Rob Lowe. New York City detectives Rick Mallory (Rob Lowe), Amos Turou (Tom McCamus), and Rico Perrini (Joseph Griffin), investigate the murder of rich socialite Andrew Pyne (Brian Renfro), whose mother (Patricia Gage) believes he was killed by his beautiful wife Hadley (Leslie Hope). Led by Mallory, the cops, however, settle on gangster Joe Esterro ( Carlo Rota), whose mobster uncle, Alonzo Esterro (Brett Halsey), believes he is innocent and hires Perrini, who has just quit the force to become a private detective, to find the real culprit. Counseled by his friend, a coffee-shop philosopher-novelist, Jacob Sarner (Peter Boret), and enticing Hadley to fall in love with him, the obsessed Mallory soon estranges himself from the rest of the police by his erratic behavior. Even his pal Turou begins to suspect Mallory of the killing, which is, in fact, what happened. Meanwhile, Perrini brings in street hood Tony Fab (Silvio Olivero), who implicates Hadley. Fab's false confession is assured by Esterro kidnapping Fab's girlfriend's diabetic daughter. Mallory, however, springs Hadley, who maintains Fab was blackmailing her because her novelist friend Lou Matlin (Dov Francks) had discussed hiring Fab for Hadley to kill her abusive husband. Mallory and Turou rescue the kidnapped child in a warehouse shoot-out in which Turou and Esterro are slain. Mallory, who has got away with Pyne's murder, and Hadley, who now knows about it, leave New York, but Mallory gets involved in a gas station hold-up. When Mallory fires at the fleeing bandit, a stray bullet from his gun hits Hadley right between the eyes. FIRST DEGREE suffers from a far-fetched, convoluted, loose-ends-galore plot by screenwriter Ron Base. The film does try to be more than just another routine police story, and first-time Canadian director Jeff Woolnough downplays the police procedural details and expected violence, adds a pretentious novelist-as-conscience character (Sarner, who is working on a novel about Mallory, called First Degree), and centers the film on Mallory's moral conflict and sexual obsession. Unfortunately, Rob Lowe is just not up to it; his inner turmoil comes off mostly as ennui, and he gives no indication of the cleverness needed to bring off the "investigate your own murder" caper. Nor is much heat generated by his and Leslie Hope's "steamy" coupling. Given Woolnough's plodding direction--even the shoot-out finale lacks suspense--FIRST DEGREE is tired, confusing stuff, despite a sturdy supporting cast. Handsomely shot in Toronto, the film was released direct-to-video and pay-cable TV. (Violence, nudity, sexual situations, profanity.)