Movie Review - Suspect

Suspect (1987)

Starring Cher, Dennis Quaid, Liam Neeson, Joe Mantegna, and John Mahoney

Directed by Peter Yates
***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

I've only seen one movie with Cher before (Mask and that was probably close to fifteen years ago), so Suspect was nearly my first foray into her as an actress.  I've got to say that I was impressed with the singer.  There's a naturalness that comes from her that isn't seen most of the time in "stars."  She was absolutely believable as beleaguered public defender Kathleen Riley.  Unfortunately, the film around her fell a little short in the believability department.

Kathleen is placed on a case of a deaf homeless man (Liam Neeson) accused of murdering a Washington D.C. judge's secretary.  Once brought to trial, one of the jurors, a Congressional lobbyist (Dennis Quaid), for some reason or another takes on a detective role, dropping hints to Kathleen in order to bolster her case and get an acquittal for her client.  The problem with the film lies in the fact that there's no reason for this lobbyist to help Kathleen.  In the end, he's not connected with the actual murder at all so it's not like that's the big twist.  There was no valid reason...except that, he's kind of a man-whore and he had the hots for Kathleen.  Beyond that, there's nothing, and that's the downfall of the film.

That being said, I liked the movie despite the fairly major flaw.  As I said, Cher was quite good and, although his character was absolutely ridiculous, Dennis Quaid was rather charming.  In their scenes together, a real chemistry is evident.  

For some reason or another, I remember seeing the video box for this film back when I was a kid in the local Blockbuster.  Of course, it was in the suspense section with all the Hitchcock films and so it always fell into that "maybe I'll watch that one day" category, so when it popped up on Netflix, I figured I'd give it a shot.  Despite its problems, Suspect is an enjoyable courtroom drama that won't land on anyone's best list, but qualifies as a nice diversion.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+