Sunday, April 21, 2013

Blood and Wine

Deeply in debt, a Florida wine dealer (Jack Nicholson) plots with his steamy Cuban girlfriend (Jennifer Lopez) and depraved safe cracking partner (Michael Caine) to rip off one of his clients. When his suspicious alcoholic wife (Judy Davis) and stepson (Stephen Dorff) are brought into the fold, the affair takes a quick and deadly turn. In "Blood and Wine", Nicholson reunited with Bob Rafelson, a familiar collaborator, for this cleverly plotted crime thriller, where you can feel the noir emulation running in the film's blood. The film does turn relentlessly ugly and strangely, Nicholson and Caine's scenes together aren't quite as entertaining as you'd expect (Jack is way over the top). The film is also seriously diminished by Dorff's abysmal performance, with Davis and Lopez (who is incredibly sexy here) not really working either.