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Sirens

2000, Movie, R, 102 mins

Sirens: Review

A convincingly gritty, made-for-cable expose of police corruption and racial profiling, this film paints its antagonists with cartoonish strokes that don't entirely compromise the subject's inherent power. Divorced business executive Sally Rawlings (Dana Delany) and her ex, college professor Edward Morgan (Vondie Curtis-Hall), can't suppress the mutual attraction they still feel for each other. The interracial couple gets hassled by bigoted policeman Sergeant Wexler (Keith Carradine) and his spineless partner, David Bontempo (Justin Theroux), when they foolish decide to make love in a car late one night. Wexler seizes the opportunity to shoot Morgan in cold blood, and the shocked Sally, who expects justice, gets the runaround from Lieutenant Denby (Brian Denehy). After being stonewalled by the District Atoorney, Sally hires a private eye to crack the blue wall of silence. Accustomed to getting quick results, Sally also surreptitiously uses her computer to play dirty tricks on Wexler and Bontempo. She comes to realize that the official cover-up can't be dismantled, but steps up her personal campaign to punish the guilty; in pursuit of privileged information she even seduces the confused Bontempo, who's begun to resent Wexler's corruption of the ideals of law enforcement. Sally unexpectedly falls for Bontempo, and enlists him as her reluctant ally. But even with armed with the evidence collected by her gumshoe, it's unlikely Sally can get a conviction against Wexler. If she chooses to take the law into her own hands, Bontempo must decide whether or not he's willing jeopardize his future and help her take down his former partner. Before it plunges headlong into far-fetched vigilantism and trumped-up romance, this action melodrama makes some timely and important points about knee-jerk prejudices. leave a comment --Robert Pardi