Synopsis: Psychiatrist gets involved with con men
Director: David Mamet
Actors: Lindsay Crouse, Joe Mantegna, Ricky Jay, JT Walsh
Date: 1987
How viewed: Lovefilm rental
Rating: 3/5
David Meyer says:
The tricky plot layers false clues on top of misdirection - as all good cons should - and builds wonderous suspense, especially given the calm, intelligent tone.
I say:
This comes over like a Hitchcock thriller, but whereas Hitchcock built up the tension and drew you in to the story (and indeed was pioneering such films 30-50 years earlier), this has no excuses and seems to just sleep-walk through the entire process. Lindsay Crouse plays a rich bored stressed-out over-worked psychiatrist who gets drawn into the schemes of a group of con-men, and, without giving away the ending, experiences both the short-con and the long-con. Crouse tries to be a cool Hitchcockian blonde - Grace Kelly, Ingrid Bergman, or Tippi Hedren - but is terribly unemotional and unconvincing and Mamet's script is repetitive and unrealistic. The strange flat tone of the main characters voices particular contrasts with that of Crouse's psychiatrist mentor (played by Lilia Skala) who comes across as the only real person in the film! All in all, it just didn't convince me at all, and the various reveals, and the ending are pretty predictable. 
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