One Way Out Reviews

This crime movie's plot is so familiar that it seems to have oozed up out of the viewer's own unconscious. No longer a decent cop like his partner, Gwen Buckley (Angela Featherstone), Harry Woltz (Jim Belushi) has bent the rules too often. Harry is a gambling addict who's dropped a bundle at the Tom Tom Club; the casino's owners, Mickey (Angelo Tsarouches) and Ben Russell (Mike Tsar), agree to cancel the debt if Harry plays ball. Their silent business partner, Evans Farrow (Gylaine St-Onge), has become a hands-on meddler. When she isn't cramping the Russells' style, she's mistreating her toy-boy husband, John (Jason Bateman). To clear his $150,000 marker, Harry must teach John how to kill Evans with impunity. The Russell Brothers are also putting the screws to gigolo John, who believes he can pin the blame on one of Evans's one-night stands. After being carefully coached, John lures Evans to a trysting place and shoots her. Thanks to Harry's expertise, the homicide has few loose ends and the police are forced to close the case. Alarmed by the killer's knowledge of crime scene cover-ups, Gwen smells a rat and wonders if a cop is involved. To Harry's surprise, she starts getting chummy with John. Then someone frames Harry for Evans's murder: Will Gwen's tenacity unearth more bad news for Harry? Belushi is too much of a pussycat for this role; he doesn't use his bulk as menacingly as Brian Dennehy or Michael Madsen would. The enervated cast, trapped in cliched roles, responds by delivering the actor's equivalent of a sit down strike.