Harper is brought to Louisiana to investigate an attempted blackmail scheme. He soon finds out that it involves an old flame of his and her daughter. He eventually finds himself caught in a power struggle between the matriarch of the family and a greedy oil baron, who wants their property. Poor Harper! Things are not as straight-forward as they initially appeared.
Unfortunately, Rosenberg directs flatly, hopping from one set piece to the next, disjointedly throwing characters of varying interest across Newman's path.
– ,
Time Out,
26 Jan 2006
rotten:
An interminable drag.
– Don Druker,
Chicago Reader,
1 Jan 2000
rotten:
A confusing and not very exciting private eye caper.
– Roger Ebert,
Chicago Sun-Times,
23 Oct 2004
rotten:
As a convoluted caper it generates action rather than character and surface mystery rather than meaning.
– A.H. Weiler,
New York Times,
9 May 2005
fresh:
Stylish, improbable, entertaining, superficial, well cast, and totally synthetic.