Miami Blues (1990)

Miami Blues: Directed by George Armitage. With Alec Baldwin, Cecilia Pérez-Cervera, Georgie Cranford, Edward Saxon. An ex-con’s first act of freedom is moving to Miami where he restarts his old criminal ways with even more potency.

“Fred Frenger Jr is just out of prison when he flies into Miami. When he accidentally kills someone at the airport he becomes hunted by the police – something that his criminal activities canu0026#39;t afford. When Sergeant Moseley gets too close to catching him, Jnr robs him taking his badge, gun and false teeth. Living with his wife (under a lie) Jnr starts to live out the life as a cop AND a criminal while Moseley tries to get him.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIu0026#39;ve seen this film a couple of times and still am not 100% sure what it wants to be, a comedy, a violent crime thriller or a mix of both. A mix of both would seem to be the answer but the two donu0026#39;t seem integrated only separate throughout the film. What the film comes across as, is the story of two men, both of whom have their own humorous touches and quirks that make the story work quite well.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe story is quite violent and is best viewed as a crime thriller that happens to have dark humour through it. While the plot seems to lack a real obvious direction it is the characters that take the film along. Frenger is violent and unhinged and played very well by a crazy looking Baldwin. Moseley is a stronger character whom I would have liked to have seen more of in the film – he is cheap, dirty and very interesting. Ward fits him like a glove and plays the character well. The third strong in the bow is rather sympathetic and is well done by Leigh who delivers an interesting character.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOverall this is a strange hybrid but it works well. It has all the traits of a pulp thriller with dark comedy, even if the plot is less substantial than Iu0026#39;d expected it to be. Overall this is an underrated little film that is well worth keeping an eye out for, if only for itu0026#39;s characters and dark humorous violence.”