On P List of Movie Reviews
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Phoenix (1998)
Rate:
5
Viewed:
6/22
6/22:
Not much works in Phoenix.
Sure, it has Ray Liotta who's in his semi-Goodfellas mode, and he can carry a film. But it's
Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead all over again with three corrupt
cop buddies. He tries to make the romance subplot work with Angelica Huston, but it ultimately goes nowhere.
Instead, the focus is on the heist to pay off the bookie only because the motto is: "Never welsh on a bet." When the guys follow
through it, the movie begins to fall apart. The action gets sillier and sillier with a nonsensical twist thrown in for
good measure.
Despite the title, the city sure doesn't look like Phoenix because it's a busy place that's attached to
Mesa and carries a significant Hispanic population which is wholly absent in the film.
All in all, Phoenix is a poodle when compared to Sidney Lumet's masterworks of police corruption.