From Deseret News archives:
Sea of Love
Film review
Al Pacino is back in a familiar role after a lengthy hiatus and a string of flops the burned-out cop-on-the-edge. And for much of the way his alternately low-key and kinetic performance and his chemistry with both Ellen Barkin and John Goodman keep "Sea of Love" afloat.
But in the end the picture is done in by its familiarity anyone who has seen any cop movies or cop TV shows has seen most of "Sea of Love" too many times before.
The story has Pacino finishing 20 years on the New York police force and finding retirement in the back of his mind. He's an alcoholic, his ex-wife has married another cop in his Manhattan precinct and he's seen so much crime and filth that he's neither outraged nor cynical anymore. He's just sad.
Then an apparent serial killer gives him a mystery to solve and he finds himself teamed up with Queens detective Goodman, in whose district the killer has also found a victim.
It appears to be a woman doing the murders. Her targets are men who place rhyming solicitations in the personals of a New York singles magazine. So Pacino and Goodman decide to create their own rhyming ad, meet the women who answer and check the fingerprints they leave with the killer's, which have been picked up at the scenes of the crimes.
As Pacino meets the women who respond one by one in a restaurant, the film's most touching moment occurs: An attractive, but older woman pours her heart out to Pacino, only to be rebuffed since she is obviously not the killer. Then she sits at the bar and watches as Pacino interviews his other "dates." She eventually slips quietly off her barstool and walks out of the restaurant with tears in her eyes. It's a truthful, very affecting moment, and unfortunately ends an untold story that seems as if it would be much more interesting than the one we're left with.
Finally, Pacino meets Ellen Barkin, a respondent who at first says she feels no attraction to him and who departs without leaving fingerprints. But later, when they meet again, they begin a torrid affair and Pacino doesn't want to take her fingerprints. If she's the killer, he doesn't want to know. And yet it haunts him throughout their relationship.
Up to this point the film is taut, tense and often humorous, but then it turns into a standard mystery-thriller formula picture, with Pacino being stalked by the killer but not knowing whether or not it's Barkin who's doing the stalking.
The resolution is fairly interesting, though routine police procedure should have solved it long before it happens. And the final scenes are an embarrassing attempt to come up with a Hollywood "happy ending." ("Fatal Attraction," what hast thou wrought?)
Despite some major missteps, there are some scintillating moments along the way. And it is nice to see Pacino returning to form, as well as to enjoy the meaty roles given both Barkin and Goodman (who also plays husband to TV's "Roseanne" weekly). They are two of the movies' best, most consistently interesting screen presences.
Be advised, however, that "Sea of Love" also wallows in R-rated excesses an abundance of violence, sex, nudity and profanity, most of it over the top.
Recent comments
If this forum had better rating options, I'd suppose I'd
give
Sea...
Avi Green | Aug. 23, 1999 at 10:21 a.m.
Cast: Al Pacino, Ellen Barkin, John Goodman.
Find a Movie Theater
- Swiss ban mosque minarets 1:05 p.m.
- These guys love a good argument 12:56 p.m.
- Vonn skis out in slalom 12:40 p.m.
- Boyle's album tops Britain's charts 12:35 p.m.
- Woods says accident 'my fault' 12:28 p.m.
- Preventing small plane crashes 12:13 p.m.
- Giving heart to women who exercise 11:55 a.m.
- 4 police officers shot dead in Wash. 11:50 a.m.
- Leno losing his audience to DVR 11:43 a.m.
- Northeast scallopers decry cuts 11:29 a.m.
- Hall mouths off about hate of Utah
- BYU is champion of the state
- Cougars beat Utes in overtime
- Credit Coug defense for win
- Cave to be sealed with body inside
- Field goals, penalties doomed Utes
- Cougar defense rose to occasion
- Marriage definitions vary widely
- Jones' joy for life remembered
- Banged up Jazz get best of Blazers
- Hall mouths off about hate of Utah
472 - Cougars beat Utes in overtime
448 - Thunder rolls by Jazz
136 - Man trapped in Nutty Putty cave dies
116 - Cave to be sealed with body inside
115 - Editorial: Poor welcome for Palin
113 - BYU is champion of the state
103 - Rivalry Week is highly profane
89 - Hall's legacy measured today
76 - Y. focused on 10-win season
73
maxie just throw gas on the fire, then ran out of the room leaving the rest...
Who won the game? was it even a game? why didnt Utah show up?
We humans seem to have precious little ability to see the overall impact of...
It's interesting how Utah fans love to shoot the messenger when something...
They played like champions last night. (Sorry whiners. Your frivolous...
I could care less about BYU or Utah; I live in Utah because of my job. Let's...
re: MWC Fan Let me get this straight: you are a MWC fan and you are...
Dear Max Hall, Before you make blanket statements regarding the...
Ah...college football, where boys will be boys. Honestly, does any UTE out...
You got to be kidding me. We were at the game dressed in red and we...



