Valentine's Day (1998) (TV)

User Rating:

4.0/10   

Director:

Duane Clark

Writer:

Norman Snider (writer)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Romance | Thriller

Plot:

Detective Jack Valentine is reinstated from his desk job to go back onto the streets. His first assignment...

Plot Keywords:

Mob | Murder | Nipples | Violence | Female Rear Nudity

Cast

Mario Van Peebles	...	Jack Valentine
Zehra Leverman	...	Alma
Randy Quaid	...	Phil
Rae Dawn Chong	...	Sally
Stewart Bick	...	Nocera
Ben Gazzara	...	Joe Buddha
John Bourgeois	...	Keenan
Frank Crudele	...	Tommy
Susan Kottman	...	Mrs. Duckworth
David Hemblen	...	Jennings
Sandi Ross	...	Lina
Nicholas Pasco	...	Tony D
A. Frank Ruffo	...	Priest
Eleanor Davis	...	PR Woman
Tony Meyler	...	Barman

Also Known As:

Protector (USA)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexuality, violence and language.

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Germany:16 | Iceland:16 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | UK:18 | USA:R

Company:

Chesler/Perlmutter Productions

erotic thriller with no thrills and no erotic qualities!

Detective Jack Valentine is reinstated from his desk job to go back onto the streets. His first assigned ends with the death of a mobster who was about to turn states evidence. The killing came as the mobster was with his girlfriend Alma. Jack suspects Alma of being involved - even more so when he finds her involved with one of the mob family, Michael. However he begins to fall for her himself and finds himself involved in the deadly game where not everything is what it seems.

This is essentially an erotic thriller- you know the sort, a crime thriller that has several sex scenes before ending with a silly twist just to look for a way to end it. Now this decides to go a different way, it decides to be an erotic thriller but without any sex or sexual tension. The plot is silly - it really is the usual erotic thriller line of is the woman a goodie or a baddie, much the same as Basic Instinct did with Sharon Stone. Unfortunately without a good thriller plot or any erotic material this makes it a pretty empty film. And if you can't roughly guess the "twist" then you probably are very naive.

Mario Van Peebles is OK - this type of stuff is all he seems to do nowadays (although he does get parts in big films such as Ali), he's not a great actor so this type of material means he doesn't look out of place. The erotic focus of the piece is Zerha Leverman's Alma and unfortunately she's terrible. She can't act and she isn't sexy in the way that someone irresistible would be - I'm sorry but even at the start when dressed as a naughty schoolgirl she isn't as convincing as Stone was. Randy Quaid is wasted in this - but his performance here doesn't convince you that he deserves any better. Same could be said of Rae Dawn Chong except she rarely gets better than this.

The film is a failure - I don't care if it's a TVM that's not an excuse for being poor. The "action" scenes can be summed up by a gunfight in the first 5 minutes, Peebles and mobster exchange fire across a gap of 10 feet separated by a bin and a car and no one gets hit - it's pure Naked Gun. All possible sex scenes start after the action has finished - I'm not looking for sex in a movie but if it's an erotic thriller without any erotic elements then something has gone wrong somewhere.

Overall a film that lacks in every area - plot, actors, action, sex. Why waste your time?