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Starring David Caruso, Linda Fiorentino. ![[Photo]](/photos/jade2.jpg) As movies scripted by Joe Eszterhas go, Jade isn't too bad. Included are the prerequisite, overdrawn, 15 minute car chase through the hilly terrain of San Francisco, the hit-and-run involving the Ford Mustang, a multitude of gymnastic sexual escapades, and the opening scene sex related murder, but, despite these elements, Jade stands out when compared to Eszterhas' other films released in the '90's, Basic Instinct and Sliver most notably, because it has a plot. Sure, you argue, so did Basic Instinct and Sliver, but in both of those films, motives and explanations were never given. The viewer is able to watch Sharon Stone and her male lead butt naked for a good third of the film, but we are never given any leads, suspect lists of more than three persons, or clues that will enable the lead character to figure out who the murderer is... providing that Eszterhas decided that he wanted to reveal the identity of the killer. One of my most common complaints about whodunit films in general is their lack of motive. Examining whodunits ranging from Scream to the comical Clue, whodunit screenwriters have a very bad habit of telling the audience the murderer's motive after the killer has been identified, in a contrived Scooby-Doo ending where one half expects to hear the captured felon exclaim, "And I would've gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids." It was in this respect that Jade most pleasantly surprised me. The murderer in Jade has a motive, and a rather good one at that. The film opens with a San Francisco millionaire being hacked to death with a hatchet while wearing an African fertility mask. Caruso, playing a district attorney, arrives on scene, finds several oddities, and the investigation begins. After several days of searching, the lead suspect in the murder becomes Caruso's friend's wife, Linda Fiorentino--who is apparently allergic to clothes. As Caruso delves deeper into the case, more left turns and red herrings appear, adding an extra kinks to his theories and ideas. Jade's downside comes with Eszterhas' pre-occupation with graphic sexual murders, naked female bodies, and violent sexcapades between high ranking government officials and easy women who should know better. Personally, ![[Photo]](/photos/jade1.jpg) I am bored with on-screen sex and nudity. When nudity is made relevant to the plot of a film, ie: Waterdance or As Good As it Gets, and done tastefully, it does bring an extra dimension to the film, however, in recent years, Hollywood directors have begun to take up the approach that a nice pair of breasts, or 'up-the-skirt' shots on-screen will make up for lack of plot or feasibility. Of course, without breasts and 'up-the-skirt' shots, films based off Eszterhas' scripts would be roughly fifteen minutes long, including three previews and an F.B.I. warning, but I digress. Working within the normal sleazy, naked parameters of Eszterhas' world, Jade is a good film--cultured and high brow entertainment it is not--that temporarily satisfies your desire to see a whodunit. Our hunt to find a truly stunning whodunit has not ended. The search for the perfect whodunit will continue. Next month: The Conversation.
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