Set in the scenic foothills of California, NO SECRETS, a potentially interesting movie, offers no surprises and little suspense.
As the film opens, three high-school buddies, Clare (Heather Fairfield), Sam (Traci Lind) and Jennifer (Amy Locane), set out on a peaceful weekend in the country together. As the trio arrives at their destination, a stranger, Manny (Adam Coleman Howard), who's been sleeping in their cabin,
quickly rushes outside and hides. Unable to sneak back in to retrieve his clothes, he spends the night in the barn. The next morning, he rumages around a shed and finds a pair of overalls and a rusty old bike. He then stages an accident in front of the cabin. Seeing Manny lying wounded and
helpless by a tree, the girls come to his rescue.
The three take a vote and decide to let the mysterious stranger stay, even though Clare has her reservations. That night, the four have a party and Jennifer, a blonde cheerleader-type, ends up in bed with Manny. Meanwhile, Clare and tough chick Sam figure out that Manny staged his accident. The
following morning, they confront Manny and ask him to leave. Manny becomes angry and admits that he's hiding from the authorities. He's an army deserter. He storms out of the cabin and Clare follows him.
Suddenly feeling sympathy for his plight, Clare helps him hitch a ride. Manny asks Clare to ride with him into town, and she accepts. They end up breaking into another cabin, where Manny explains why he beat up his drill sergeant. Meanwhile, Sam and Jennifer call the police and discover that
Manny didn't just assault his drill sergeant, he beat him to death. Eventually, the cops catch up with Manny and Clare. Manny makes a run for it, but is tracked down by police dogs. As Manny is being arrested, Clare tearfully watches the authorities drag him away.
Had screenwriters Dezso Magyar and William Scheuer developed the characters more, NO SECRETS could have been a believable and interesting movie. However, we never really get a sense of who these people are, nor do we get the feeling that Clare, Jennifer and Sam are old childhood friends. It is
also hard to believe that Clare, the intelligent and suspicious one, would suddenly take off with a violent man who's running from the police. Also, we don't learn enough about Manny to feel any sympathy toward him. However, the actors manage to deliver competent performances from a slow-moving
and underdeveloped script. The film was "presented" by Mike Curb and Lester Korn. (Profanity, sexual situations.) leave a comment
