Miami Blues

Running time: N/A

Fred Frenger (Alec Baldwin) is a wanted ex-con whose devil-may-care attitude surprisingly hasn't yet led to his capture. Upon reaching Miami he meets up with Susie (a hooker played by Jennifer Jason Leigh) adopts her as his fiancee, and sets about supplementing their income with a string of petty thefts. Upon acquiring the cuffs, badge, and other accouterments of cop Sgt. Hoke Moseley (Fred Ward), he discovers that larceny has never been easier. This disarming black comedy stands out among others in the pack because its offbeat plot turns make for an intriguing, often unpredictable, pacing. Even if Frenger is psychotic enough to kill on a whim, he never gets past the purse-snatching and simple pick-pocketing. While burglarizing a house, he will break into an improvisational haiku. At the center of this wakko world, however, is Susie. Leigh somehow manages to play her superficiality with a sense of depth as she becomes the link between both Frenger's mad world and Moseley's defined, structured world. --Mike Rabehl