Flinch Reviews

FLINCH outfits a perfunctory romantic comedy with a standard thriller engine. It survives almost exclusively on the strength of a sparkling performance by Gina Gershon. Harry Mirapolsky (Judd Nelson) and Daphne James (Gershon) work as live display-window mannequins at a downtown Toronto department store. Serious model Daphne despises every thing about Harry, beginning with his standards of personal hygiene. Unbeknownst to her, after work every night, Harry sneaks back in and spends the night running loose in the store, where he studies to complete a correspondence course for a law degree, hoping to leave behind a rich history of petty crime. Vanguard sculptor Miles (Nick Mancuso) occupies an adjacent industrial space which doubles as an exclusive gallery, where he does freeform sculptures from live nude models. One night, after Harry has made slight headway with Daphne, he invites her on a fabulous date. Inside the store, he's secured fine evening clothes, expensive jewelry, champagne on ice, and a sumptuous gourmet dinner. But a close call with a security guard and an attack dog force them into hiding, reprising their mannequin roles in the front window. From this vantage they witness Miles fending off the advances of an overzealous model and then strangling her. He sees them too, but believes they're only department store dummies. Police detective Fowler (Frank Cassini), shows little interest in the story, mainly because no corpse has been found. But once the police start snooping around, Miles quickly wises up and begins to stalk the erstwhile mannequins. At the end of his rope, Miles finally breaks down, revealing himself as a complete fruitcake. Harry and Daphne, having bonded over their ordeal, wind up together. FLINCH is by no means offensive, but there are no surprises here. The one bright spot is Gina Gershon, who managed to register in a small role in THE PLAYER (she played the hapless assistant charged with bringing Tim Robbins just the right brand of sparkling water). She makes a much more lasting impression in this larger context, and clearly deserves better. (Violence, nudity, adult situations, profanity.)