Public Access

Fans of the brilliant 'The Usual Suspects' will no doubt be curious to check out the first movie by its director Bryan Singer and writer Christopher McQuarrie. While no where near as assured as that movie or McQuarrie's subsequent underrated directorial debut 'The Way Of The Gun', it has enough going for it to make it worth tracking down. Ron Marquette's impressive performance as the enigmatic Whiley Pritcher is by far the best thing about the movie. He displays plenty of charisma and acting chops which makes his suicide a couple of years after the release of 'Public Access' all the more tragic. Pritcher is a stranger who moves into Brewster, a seemingly average small town and begins broadcasting a show on a local public access TV station. His probing into the dark side of Brewster causes a lot of debate and some hostility, especially when he aligns himself with the town's Mayor. So far, so good. The first half of the movie is very well done and makes fascinating viewing. After that, while the mood turns darker and more violent, it also gets increasingly less compelling, and to me ultimately very anti-climactic. Marquette is good throughout but can't salvage the uneven script which doesn't seem to explore the interesting premise enough to make this one anything special. The frequent comparisons to David Lynch circa 'Blue Velvet' are not entirely off-base, but unfortunately 'Public Access' flounders way before it finishes. Nice try though, and still worth viewing.