The Big Blue

As opposed to the best films noir--with their wickedly savvy scripts, hypnotically masterful direction, and indelible performances--THE BIG BLUE offers hyper-stylization and little else. Visually sophisticated in the exaggerated, cheap mode of pulp detective-novel jackets, with purposely stilted dialog that parodies the terseness of the 40s film noir classics, it little honors the genre to which it aspires. The obscure, inwardly spiralling plot concerns private eye Jack Kidd (David Brisbin), who is hired by Myrna Monroe (Sheila McLaughlin) to tail her cop husband (Jim Neu), whom she suspects of adultery. Jack discovers Monroe is really setting up a dr...