Movie Review by EDF
Starring: Liv Tyler, Matt Dillon, John Goodman
Director: Harald Zwart
What would you do if the perfect woman, of your dreams, of course, came along? Would it seem like a dream come true? But where does the path you travel with her, lead you? What possible obstacles could come along? Why would you hire a hitman to kill her?
Centering around three men and their encounters with Jewel (Liv Tyler), first up is Randy (Matt Dillon) a barman, who saves Jewel from the fierce clutches of Utah (Andrew Silverstein), who tries to take advantage of her. Going back to Randy’s house full of junk, they get it on and a few hours later Randy finds Jewel in the living room with the phone in her lap. Jewel confesses that both she and Utah con people into thinking that they had just had a fight. Jewel would go back to the hero’s place where she would contact Utah and they would rob the poor unfortunate. Even though Jewel had not, at that stage, contacted Utah, he nevertheless shows up after following them. Seeing nothing of value to rob, they go back to the bar to rob the safe. Jewel shoots Utah and she and Randy try to come up with a story to spin to the police so that neither of them is sent to jail.
Enter Detective Dehling (John Goodman), who doesn’t believe a word of Randy’s alibi. Once the Detective catches sight of Jewel, he believes that the good Lord has brought his dead wife back to life and he’ll look out for her. Also on the scene is Randy’s cousin Carl (Paul Reiser), whose boring marriage is the last thing on his mind when he catches sight of Jewel. Actually his perverted vision of Jewel is a hilarious insight into the kind of thoughts this sad character comes up with. When Jewel domesticates Randy but things do not actually go how she had planned, she drives Randy away with the help of the Detective. Wanting to get Jewel out of his life for good, Randy contacts toupee-wearing hitman Mr. Burmeister (Michael Douglas) to finally sort the problem out once and for all.
There are a lot of different strands to the story going on, that stop this from being the usual temptress on the prowl movie. Liv Tyler is convincing and sexy in her role as Jewel and the other main actors perform their characters convincingly. Overall, this is a funny enjoyable romp to watch and one that will put a smile on your face.
