Written by Sarah Thorp
Directed by Philip Kaufman

Big names in the movie industry are used as a way of drawing people to a film. There are times that I look at a list of actors in a film and think that it must be good because of the star power and a general level of respect for the projects of those involved in the film. Twisted is one of those films. With stars like Samuel Jackson, David Strathairn, and Andy Garcia, I thought this film was pretty much guaranteed to be good. Even knowing that I’m not usually a fan of the roles Ashley Judd usually lands herself in didn’t dissuade my optimism. Boy was I wrong.

Ashley Judd is Jessica Shepard, a Bay Area police officer who’s quite good at what she does. She’s just been promoted to inspector in the homicide division. Her mentor is John Mills (portrayed by Samuel Jackson) who also raised her after the death of her parents. It seems her father went on a killing spree which ended when he killed his wife, then committed suicide.

Jessica is assigned to see a departmental psychiatrist, Dr. Frank (portrayed by David Strathairn) after a bust where it’s believed she might have used excessive violence on the suspect. She doesn’t really think much of the sessions but does start to open up to the doctor as time progresses.

Jessica’s vice is that she picks up men in bars and has sex with them. It’s meaningless sex with strangers, and she doesn’t even seem to be enjoying it. She also drinks quite a bit, and soon begins having blackouts.

Her new partner is Mike Delmarco (portrayed by Andy Garcia). The two are assigned a case and the body turns out to be that of one of Jessica’s lovers from more than a month prior. Soon another body turns up, also one of her former lovers. The crimes are connected through the manner of the death as well as a single cigarette burn on the back of the hand.

Jessica starts wondering if she’s starting to become like her father with a mental illness driving her to kill and if history is repeating itself in a sense.

There were so many issues with Twisted that I hardly know where to start. The writing is absolutely horrid. There was little I found surprising or suspenseful in the script. Everything was tremendously predictable. The morning the second murder is discovered after Jessica has blacked out once again, she touches her face to find her finger is bleeding. I knew right away they would discover her blood on the victim, but that it was planted there. The story is entirely too obvious all the way along. At around the 40-minute point in the movie, it’s also made pretty obvious who the real killer is.

It was also pretty obvious that her blackouts were drug-induced right from early on. If the audience can figure it out, I would think this crack inspector could as well.

There were also plot holes aplenty throughout the film. Two partners who start to have feelings for each other, and yet they are allowed to remain working together? And in a case where one partner has had relationships with all the victims? No one on the force seems to care for Jessica except her partner and John Mills, although her supervisor Lt. Tong (portrayed by Russell Wong) seems to have some admiration for her ability to solve crimes and dedication. However, since the writing is so poor, I never got a feeling for what Tong really thought of Jessica as he’s terribly underused as a character.

Most of the characters are so cardboard that I can’t really fault the actors, although all of the performances are terrible and wooden. Even the normally stellar Samuel Jackson seems like he’s only in the role half-heartedly. I can’t imagine what drew Andy Garcia to the role unless it was hacked to death from what it originally was. The entire story is completely unbelievable and contrived, and it seems like at some point the actors realized it and wondered what they were doing there.

Ashley Judd portrays the same character through most of the movies she makes. That’s the problem – all of the roles seem to be the same, and none are memorable. It’s the same character from Kiss the Girls and Double Jeopardy. I know she is capable of more, but I think she sometimes chooses scripts where the characters are too familiar.

There’s some interesting cinematography, but that can’t rescue Twisted from a poor script. Despite the star power, this is a horrible disappointment and something that you don’t have to feel bad about missing, even if you are generally a fan of any of these actors.



SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Commentary by Director Philip Kaufman
• Creating a Twisted Web of Intrigue
• The Inspectors: Clues to the Crime
• San Francisco: Scene of the Crime
• Cutting Room Floor