Miami Blues (George Armitage, 1990)

Loved the book but hated this flick. To be honest, I probably hated it because the book is such a masterpiece and I had simply expected too much. I guess what pissed me off was that director (or screenwriter) actually thought that he could improve the material by adding some scenes (like - for fucks sake! - a dinner they all have together) and had at the same time omitted some really cool ones. Just leave this stuff alone asshole, it's so much above you!!!

I was very surprised to see lots of raving reviews about  Alec Baldwin's performance on the various message boards. For my money, he's the one who puts the last nail into the coffin by his totally over the top portrayal of a "charming psychopath". On the other hand, Jennifer Jason Leigh is very good (as she always is) and especially Fred Ward manages to pull a good job. Maybe not too surprisingly since he's also credited as an executive producer so we can speculate that he was personally involved and had liked his character. At first I didn't like "his" Hoke much, but somehow he had stayed in the back of my mind. I was a bit surprised to have his image in my head when I was reading next Hoke novel. So I'm giving this movie an extra point on his behalf altough it's still an abomination of Charles Willeford's classic...

3/10