Reviews & Ratings for
Her Alibi More at IMDbPro »

Filter:

Best Chronological Prolific Authors Loved It Hated It Hide Spoilers:

Page 1 of 3:

[1] [2] [3]

Index

23 reviews in total

---

13 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Selleck's humour, 8 February 2001

Author: Mort-31 from Vienna, Austria

It's true that this film is rather undeep and not particularly demanding. But still, in my opinion, it's charmy. From this point of view, the film is stylistically correct because the books Philip Blackwood writes are also romantic thrillers with exaggerated characters and no attempt to be serious or even world class. We're in the world of trash. Of course, the movie can be understood as kind of a parody on the book that's being written during the film. But on the other hand, it corresponds to it.

Tom Selleck's humour or maybe only the humour around his role keeps the movie alive. Like in „Folks!`, he is the poor guy, damned to passiveness, who desperately tries to cope with what is happening to him. But here the humour doesn't arise only from his mishaps but also from the way he falsifies them when transferring them into his novel. Paulina Porizkova is not a convincing actress but in this movie this doesn't matter because her inflexible face makes her character unfathomable, unpredictable, unlike Philip Blackwood's stories.

If you want to see a trashy little comedy about trashy little thrillers, this is the right one for you!

---

10 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
A simple, funny, and charming little film, 22 November 2003

Author: christopher wright (chrisinthemorning@hotmail.com) from Los Angeles

A lot of us go through our quite ordinary lives daydreaming about being these larger than life characters, so I thought that this story about this sheltered and detached mystery writer, Phillip Blackwood, was quite good because of the funny and endearing way it relates to being a dreamer.

I'm a big Tom Selleck fan, since his days as island hopping P.I. Thomas Magnum, and I think he was the perfect fit for the role of Phil Blackwood. Selleck is this tall, good-looking dude who looks the part of your typical hero or action star, but he is able to come across as this almost goofy, nice guy, and I think those are the qualities that make Thomas Magnum and Phillip Blackwood such great characters. The contradictions between the characters' physical appearances and their personalities make them very easy to like and root for.

I liked the rest of the cast too. Paulina Porizkova was stunningly beautiful and I liked her in her role. The actors who played Blackwood's agent and brother were very funny in their roles.

I recommend this movie. It is lighthearted, funny, and quite charming.

---

7 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
How do you say in Romanian, get lost dick-face! Tremendous Fun, 12 June 2008

Author: cosmorados from United Kingdom

Philip Blackwood is a depressed writer who's lost his spark and his passion for writing. His successful detective character is the subject of endless predictable stories and his agent is on his back trying to get him to turn it around. As he goes to court with the usual oldies who attend in order to have something to Gossip about up steps the beautiful Nina, an eastern European arrested for murdering a fellow countryman with a pair of scissors. Tom Selleck decides to act as her alibi (Hey it's the title of the film as well!) and invites her to live with him as he believes she is innocent. As the police detective that drops by to chat with Philip Blackwood informs him, if the alibi is made up then he is not only a perjurer, but more importantly, he is liable to be the next victim in order for the alibi to stand forever. What follows is a series of ridiculous escapades in which Philip's life is under threat at every stage of the day, never knowing if the lovely Nina is a cold blooded killer or just deadly unlucky.

I had the fortune to get this film out of the video library on a whim and wound up falling in love with the film as much as Blackwood does with Nina, the parallels between his super-cool fictional world and the clumsy long suffering Blackwood are fantastic, and all the supporting cast do a great job.

Don't get me wrong, this is not an Annie Hall or a when harry met sally, it's silly ridiculous and as Farantino says "I gotta say, Phil, You're works a little predictable!" but it's still a good watch and a very fun film.

---

7 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Very silly but fun, 19 October 2007

Author: jupitergal2 from Maine

(Comment originally posted 4 April 2003)

Okay, so it's completely unbelievable. It's not supposed to be believable. It's a spoof of silly mystery stories, such as those the main character writes. Basically the premise is, what if the mystery writer gets caught in his own silly plot, and then his imagination gets him into even more trouble?

Even though Paulina got the Razzie for having the worst performance of the year, I enjoyed watching her, and loved Tom Selleck in this one, because for such a big handsome guy, he showed what a real person would be like in such a situation: kind of a goofy coward, but likable. I loved all the supporting characters, from James Farentino and William Daniels to Patrick Wayne and all of the court owls. But I also thought the setting was great -- I am completely in love with Tom's house! The only distractions for me were some noticeably sloppy editing mistakes, but since the movie isn't supposed to be taken seriously anyway, they don't really bother me.

If you just want to relax and watch an enjoyable movie that doesn't take much thought, this is it.

---

6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
there should be more movies like this, 20 August 2001
Author: skottyrock from www.appallingtrash.com headquarters, Tokyo

Though not a masterpiece of film-making, HER ALIBI makes for a pleasant change from the violent films that Hollywood keeps on churning out. Tom Selleck and model-cum-actress Paulina Porizkova generate some genuine sparks on-screen in this lighthearted comedy/mystery. Selleck does well in the role of a once-popular mystery writer, while Porizkova, better known for her model-perfect looks, satisfies as the mysterious foreigner who captures the heart of Selleck.

---

5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Hilarious adventure with excellent performances, 29 March 2000
Author: vikramts (vikramts@yahoo.com) from Chennai, India

I caught "Her Alibi" last week by chance and I had absolutely no idea that it would be such an enjoyable movie.With Tom Selleck giving a simply wonderful performance and a gorgeous Paulina for company,the movie had me rooted to my seat for the entire length!

Selleck plays the role of Phillip Blackwood , a not-so succesful writer with a creative block and his publisher is getting impatient with him,waiting for the next "Peter Swift" novel from blackwood.To get his creative juices flowing with ideas of crime plots,Selleck visits the law court one day where he witnesses the lovely Romanian girl,Nina(Paulina Polizkova), being tried for murder.In an attempt to salvage what's left of his personal life,Selleck gives her an alibi that she is his lover and saves her from imprisonment.The movie then deals with Selleck taking the girl home and incorporating totally twisted versions (of his daily adventures) into his novel.Now that his book seems to be shaping up with the elements of Mystery,Passion,Adventure and Thrill (characteristic of detective novels),Selleck finds himself falling in love and possibly also in danger with the ravishing beauty.!

Her expert skills in throwing knives n handling scissors make it hard for him to believe that she could be innocent of the murder charge.However,Love soon finds itself taking form between the lonely,handsome man and the lovely lass.Her identity still remains a mystery to him and in his quest for the truth,he stumbles upon an interesting plot which makes the perfect ending for his new novel.

The movie has its share of hilarious scenes when Selleck gets an arrow into his butt,when he rushes his family to the hospital(doubting that Nina might have poisoned them all)and when he challenges the bad guys to a bout(dressed up as a clown).It also captures the picturesque locations hitherto dreamt of only in fantasy lands.Paulina is an absolute stunner and she plays the part of the innocent yet no-nonsense kind of girl with ease and panache. In all,I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and I sure hope all you guys watch it for yourselves sometime!If you like it,tell me so since I'd love to contact the stars and convey my appreciation.

---

3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Under-appreciated suspense comedy, 19 July 2008

Author: Dave from Ottawa from Canada

Always likable Tom Selleck is well cast as a mediocre mystery writer (VERY mediocre, based on the samples of his writing we get in the voice-over narrations, which are one of the funniest parts of the movie). He's looking for a plot for his next book and finding it in the person of a beautiful Romanian college student (Paulina Porizkova) who seems to be hiding some big secret. The movie plays like the plot of a bad detective book, with perceptions of the female character shifting from dangerous to trustworthy to suspicious and back. The chemistry between the characters works very well romantically as both characters begin to fall in love despite being wary and suspicious of the various goings-on, and the Romanian KGB agents on Paulina's trail make for useful comic villains.

---

4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
OK--It's not "Breaker Morant", 16 May 2005

Author: Red-125 from Upstate New York

Her Alibi (1989) directed by Bruce Beresford, is a very funny, but totally predictable, murder mystery. Tom Selleck plays Phil Blackwood, a mystery writer whose stories are as predictable as the film's plot. Phil has run out of creative steam and his reputation is diminishing.

Paulina Porizkova plays Nina, who is a beautiful (very) Romanian who may or may not be a murderer.

From the moment Phil sees Nina, we can guess where the movie is going. In other words, Her Alibi isn't really a mystery. What makes the film enjoyable isn't the plot, but the technique Beresford utilizes. We see a scene, and hear Selleck's voice- over as he writes the scene into his novel. Of course, what we see and what we hear are two totally different versions of reality. The contrast really is very funny.

William Daniels does well as Sam, Selleck's long-suffering publisher. Porizkova can't act, but nobody will notice. Selleck plays Selleck.

If you want to see fine film-making, rent Beresford's Breaker Morant. If you want to laugh at a film with no social significance at all, rent Her Alibi.

---

4 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Fairly amusing "comedy-thriller" but sort of lame at the same time, 1 February 2005

Author: MovieAddict2012 from UK

Tom Selleck is the titular character, "her alibi," who provides a beautiful murder suspect with a false alibi because he believes she is innocent. However, once he brings her back to his house, he begins to believe perhaps he was wrong - and now she is trying to murder him so that he cannot go back on his word.

Selleck's character also happens to be a mystery writer of cheap paperback books so he uses what's happening in his life as a parallel to his story, so at moments throughout the film we hear voice-overs of the story being narrated and it's played for comedy (example: Selleck makes a lot of noise while spying on the murder suspect, then in voice-over he reads a line from the book he's writing and says that the character in the book "quietly snuck up on the girl.").

Not a great movie, but it will entertain you.

---

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
More enjoyable than its 5.1 IMDb rating would suggest., 9 April 2008
Author: TxMike from Houston, Tx, USA, Earth

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Maybe Tom Selleck is so popular because he can be liked equally by the gals and the guys. Here he is Phil Blackwood, successful bachelor author of a whole series of mystery novels. But lately he is "stuck" and his agent is pressuring him into writing something good.

He happens to be in court with friends one day when beautiful Paulina Porizkova as Nina from Romania is arraigned for murder. It seems that the dead guy had scissors stuck through his chest, into his heart, and she was the accused.

Apparently unable to speak English, Nina's court-appointed lawyer asks for and gets a 24-hour continuance. Meanwhile, dresses as a priest, Phil gets into jail to visit her. In short, they agree on a plan, he will claim they are in a relationship and she was with him when the murder was committed. That becomes "Her Alibi."

As part of their agreement, Nina goes with Phil, back to his secluded home in Connecticut. He doesn't quite know what to do with her, but is smitten. And, it turns out, she speaks English very well. But she remains mysterious, and won't tell Phil anything about her background or "who she is." Still, Phil uses his everyday experiences with her, including the court case, to write his fictional novel. Most of the movie involves their interactions and her dodging some mysterious Romanians seemingly out to get her. It is a romantic comedy, very enjoyable at barely 90 minutes. We found it very entertaining.

A bonus was seeing Patrick Wayne as Phil's brother Gary Blackwood. As the movie was playing I didn't know whom he was, but remarked that he looked a lot like Jim Garner and I wondered if he was Garner's son. John Wayne's son instead!

SPOILERS: Nina and her family were Romanian circus performers, planning to defect. The mysterious men were trying to prevent the defection, as it would be an embarrassment to their country.

---

---

Page 1 of 3:

[1] [2] [3]

Add another review

---

Related Links

Plot summary	Amazon.com summary	Ratings
Awards	Newsgroup reviews	External reviews
Parents Guide	Plot keywords	Main details
Your user reviews	Your vote history