Movie Review

After Dark, My Sweet (1990)

EW's GRADE
C+

Details Rated: R; Length: 114 Minutes; Genres: Drama, Mystery and Thriller; With: Bruce Dern, Jason Patric and Rachel Ward; Distributor: Avenue Pictures Productions

In this adaptation of Jim Thompson's 1955 novella, the characters keep thrashing around on screen, as though something terribly important were going on. Jason Patric gives a good performance as Bill ''Kid'' Collins, a volatile, childlike drifter who falls into the clutches of a couple of desperate schemers (Rachel Ward and Bruce Dern). The three launch a kidnapping that's destined to fail, and Patric and Ward keep taunting each other. After Dark, My Sweet is cool and compelling for about 45 minutes, but it has a clinical, hothouse garishness that grows oppressive. What's really weighing the movie down is the ghost of Thompson himself. The late pulp novelist has acquired such a hoity-toity reputation that his grimy little melodrama has become fodder for an existential art film. C+

Originally posted Dec 13, 2007 Published in issue #31 Sep 14, 1990 Order article reprints
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