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Borderline

2003, Movie, R, 94 mins

Borderline: Review

Although thriller fans could walk through this mystery maze blindfolded, screenwriter David Loucka crafts his gallery of suspects with aplomb and director Evelyn Maude Purcell keeps things moving briskly. Divorced mother Lila Coletti (Gina Gershon), who's raising two daughters and holding down a demanding job as a prison psychiatrist, has a substance-abuse problem that resurfaces in times of stress, but assures her own analyst that things are under control. But Lila's slimy ex-husband, Paul Coletti (Nick Boraine), uses Lila's work and her platonic relationships with ex-convicts like Ciro Ruiz (Jon Huertas) and the released Ed Baikman (Sean Patrick Flanery) as ammunition in his bid to get custody of their children. Shortly after a judge sides with Paul, someone murders him and his new girlfriend, Jennifer Kemp (Carolyn Balogh). Further complicating Lila's situation, Baikman has misconstrued her professional concern for romance and is stalking his former penitentiary therapist. Fear of losing her children places the pill-popping Lila in a vulnerable position, which Baikman exploits. More than ever before, Lila must keep secret the identity of her actual lover, Detective Macy Kobacek (Michael Biehn), because he's been assigned to investigate the Coletti-Kemp case. Furious that Lila has rebuffed his advances, including offers of marriage, Baikman tries to steer the cops in her direction, insinuating to Kobacek that Lila's history of sexual molestation by her father triggered a rage that drove her to kill. By the time Ciro and Baikman's sister have been added to the roster of murder victims, Kobacek doesn't know what to think: Could the woman he loves be a black widow who groomed Baikman to take the fall for her? You may guess whodunit, but you won’t be bored as this well-made thriller's characters play cat-and-mouse games in and out of the boudoir. leave a comment --Robert Pardi