On P List of Movie Reviews
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Palmetto (1998)
Rate:
5
Viewed:
10/03, 1/18
1/18:
To make herself relevant, Elisabeth Shue tries to act sexy in Palmetto in the hopes of landing better
roles but ends up looking ridiculous while seeing her career fade away.
Anyway, how many times have I seen this plot before? And do I have to see a Palmetto bug up close more than
one time? It's just a fancy name for cockroaches! Although the film starts off well and is slightly
neo-noir, it's been Body Heat all over again. Who can believe that
Harry Barber, in a relationship with a hot-looking girlfriend, falls for another hot-looking femme fatale?
Things go south as soon as Harry is ultimately suspected of the girl's murder and flees the bungalow only to
be shot in the shoulder, yet he's fully capable of doing much more to wrap up the story. Curiously, toward the
end, nobody, not even Mr. Malroux, feels anything for the dead girl.
Having done better pictures, Woody Harrelson is wasted although he carries Palmetto well. It's
interesting to see how the bungalow is so close to the Gulf of Mexico. Will the place still hold up against
the ebb and flow of the tide, say, within five years? I highly doubt it.
All in all, Palmetto is too inconsistent as a true neo-noir picture.