Face Value

Face Value

This movie is about as average as they come. But for being a made-for-TV film, it's not all that bad.

Scott Baio, ex-child star in real life, plays a young man who goes to visit an old friend of his who resides in California. His friend's got it all: Nice house, great car, lots of neat accessories, friends, and, or course, women. But after Baio's friend mysteriously disappears, and Baio suspects foul play in a boating accident, Baio adapts to the persona of his friend for a while. But this idea backfires when the bad guys who killed his friend start coming after Baio, thinking they didn't succeed in their job. Or is that what it's all about?

This film is about as average as they come. We've seen it all before, and much, much better. But for being a television movie, it's not half bad. Scott Baio's not the worst actor in the world, even if the others in the film rank high in the "bad actor" category.

Director Michael Miller wanders around helplessly trying to decide where his prized film should head--it ends up in the gutter, for the main part, but let's face it: This movie is nowhere near as bad as it could have become.

The script by James G. Hirsch is right out of a TV film, with things like, "Hey, cowboy!" and weird catchphrases for the characters. The dialogue is stiff and weak--but again, not as bad as it could have been.

The plot--what little of it there is--is so average it's mind-numbingly bad. Everything that happens is utterly predictable and there is not one moment of real suspense. But then again, it's a television movie, so I can't blame it too much. I sat down to watch this movie with the lowest of expectations, and I came out with a bit higher of a standard for made-for-TV movies.

"Face Value" is awful as a film itself, but as a TV movie? It's not all that bad. To tell you the truth, it was a bit of a guilty pleasure as I watched it late at night on Friday. A nice film to relax you and take you out for a bit. Just don't look upon it with critical eyes, and you'll find yourself actually enjoying it.

1/5 stars on a level of regular film, 3/5 when compared to TV films, brings the average to 2/5 stars.

John Ulmer

Available cheaply, on DVD in France, I bought this one recently. Not a bad film - unknown actors to me at least but the plot merits one's attention. The film is a little lacking in style but the acting is pretty good and the end can't be guessed in advance ! Picture quality not bad but a few fuzzy and out of Focus moments. The actress playing Sid is a beautiful girl but is wearing too much smeary lipstick for the occasion, this together with fuzzy filming producess some weird effects ! The plot has been seen in other films, nevertheless, the whole thing is carried out with relative efficiency for a B series movie.

This movie's not bad, featuring a reasonable performance from all cast members, a strong basic idea and a fairly good follow-through on the plot with a nice twist about halfway through.

Despite all this, anybody who's familiar with Hollywood movies will guess the ending 25 minutes into the movie.

Overall it deserves 7/10.

Basically my title, one-line summary sums up how I feel about this film. The acting was strong for all of the characters involved. At times James Wilder was a bit over the top, and SCott Baio's accent didn't work for me. Krista Allen was good- not her best work, but she wasn't given a whole lot to do. The cinematography was beautiful, especially the establishing shots of Santa Monica. The camera work was obviously thoughtful and with great care, and I just wish the writers had taken the same passion and interest to the script. There were ridiculous amounts of summary dialogue, and the script had the character of Syd calling Barry "Cowboy" every other word out of her mouth. If they stuck to the golden rule of showing and not telling, the film would have been great. It's especially fun to watch in french, with the dubbed language over the picture

It begins as a "buddies movie " but the viewer feels there's an ambiguous Relationship between the two men .One of them welcomes his pal in a luxury apartment and treats him like a king ;but his words do not ring true.

The screenplay is not that predictable and if it enters sometimes the Highsmith/"talented Mr Ripley" territory when a character takes a would be friend's name,the developments are suspenseful and the ending (one of the female characters alone justifies the very title of the thriller) The script may seem simple ,but it makes sense (no open ending ,no unanswered question) ,and considering some of today's "unexpected twists","face value" is to be recommended .