Your enjoyment of this film is likely to be based on your expectations. Why? It's the odd combination of some Class A talent (Woody Harrelson as the sucker who gets involved in a fake kidnapping plot and Elizabeth Shue as the femme fatale), and the standard potboiler plot. From many happy hours spent in front of a television tuned to BBC2 in the afternoon I am fairly confident this film has been made at least 200 times before, usually in black and white.
The plot meanders rather than twists and Harrelson's character isn't interesting enough to make you feel sorry for him - but he is playing a sucker and he does that well enough. A film limited by the core material, rather than the execution.
The plot meanders rather than twists and Harrelson's character isn't interesting enough to make you feel sorry for him - but he is playing a sucker and he does that well enough. A film limited by the core material, rather than the execution.