Ripped from today's headlines! It begins with a traffic jam reminiscent of the one at the beginning of Fellini's 8 H -- if anything, a bit more grotesque -- but the hero, a laid-off defense worker, doesn't just imagine an escape from his car; he actually walks off and leaves it, soon picking up a baseball bat from a Korean convenience-store clerk and then a gym bag of automatic weapons from the scene of a drive-by shooting. A stop-in at a fast-food chain called Whammyburger gets us thinking specifically, though none too tastefully, about McDonald's and mass murderer James Huberty. Despite the thudding closeups, the movie is not totally without restraint: the number of murders here remains well below "mass." And although he at times seems to be hosting a gripe session in which every viewer is bound to find a point of agreement, the protagonist is not glamorized: Michael Douglas with geeky haircut and glasses ca. 1958, and nerdy pocket-pen set in his dress shirt. ("I'm the bad guy?" he wonders in the final scene -- just to be sure everyone gets it.) No, the viewer's point of identification is a robbery cop (Robert Duvall) who happens to be -- that portentous old standby -- one day away from retirement. With Barbara Hershey, Rachel Ticotin, and Tuesday Weld; directed by Joel Schumacher. (1993) — Duncan Shepherd
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