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Twisted (2004) Ashley Judd .................... Jessica Shepard Samuel L. Jackson .......... John Mills Andy Garcia .................... Mike Delmarco David Strathairn ............... Dr. Melvin Frank Leland Orser ................. Edmund Culter Synopsis With a tawdry plot and a short list of suspects, Twisted gives armchair detectives an easy chance to figure out whodunit. Critics roasted this pulpy potboiler, in which Ashley Judd (attempting to repeat the thriller success she had with Double Jeopardy and High Crimes) plays a San Francisco homicide detective who is her own prime suspect in an ongoing serial murder case, in which all of the victims are men she recently slept with. These one-night stands, and a problem with alcoholic blackouts, make Judd's wine-drinking character the loose cannon on the case, and her partner (Andy Garcia) and police commissioner mentor (Samuel L. Jackson) have their own reasons for wanting the case to close. Apparently nobody bothered to point out numerous weaknesses in Sarah Thorp's B-movie screenplay, and with no apparent interest in the proceedings, director Philip Kaufman (The Right Stuff) allows Judd to look silly, Garcia to overact, and the whole movie to unfold in murky darkness and dimly lit rooms. Kaufman, Judd, and her costars are capable of better. From Amazon.com Availability Video and DVD; easy to find. The Leland Factor Small. I think his sole purpose is to get Ashley Judd promoted. Allison's Review Edmund Culter is not a nice person. He gets to open the movie by holding a knife to Ashley Judd's throat, and it's fairly clear that he intends to rape and/or kill her. However, Judd's character is no mere damsel in distress; she is in fact a cop who has lured Culter to her in order to arrest him (Samuel L. Jackson upbraids her for this later). So after some fighting moves and a boot in the face, Culter goes off to jail. We see him there later, playing the assaulted innocent to his smarmy laywer. And later Ashley Judd goes to visit him there again, though I'm not sure exactly why. Yes, the movie is fairly brainless, but Leland still manages to be excellent in a role that, frankly, is a little confusing when viewed in the context of the bigger picture. Verdict Only for those who want the complete Leland experience. Plot silliness aside, Culter may make some people a tad uncomfortable. /back |