Last Dance (1996)

Director Bruce Beresford has brought us intensely interesting and highly emotional films in his career, including "Driving Miss Daisy" and "Breaker Morant." But his latest resume piece is a dismal failure seemingly helmed by a neophyte. The film, about a flighty lawyer who is trying to get on with his life and the female death-row inmate he comes to care for, seems like a mini-series edited down to a 2 hour piece. Beresford edits the film like a rock skipping along a lake. The film just seems to only touch down when it feels like it. We never have time to get into the plot, the characters or the deeper meanings of the film. Worse yet is the climax which is a throwback to films of the past. It's cinematic not realistic.

Sharon Stone gets star billing here and even though she has her best role in ages and does a great job with it, she is defeated by the film's plot and direction. Stone actually pulls off a pretty impressive accent here and makes us, at least slightly, understand why Rob Morrow's character cares for her. Marrow, meanwhile, in his first role since "Quiz Show," has a hard time shaking off his Dr. Joel Fleischman persona from TV's "Northern Exposure." This is almost his character in the second season, still cold and unfeeling but starting to open up. Peter Gallagher plays Morrow's older and more adept brother. He has almost nothing to do. Randy Quaid, conversely, attempts to make the most of his small screen time and gives us a character we really like. We wish it was he at the center of the film here; It would be much more interesting and dramatic.

Morrow's character gets a job, through his brother, working on clemency cases for the state government. He has been a bit of a playboy in the past and is trying to move on with his life now. Even so, he begins the film by driving his expensive sports car down the highway toting a U-Haul trailer. This says a lot about the guy. Stone is a convicted killer with an interesting past including a drug problem which may have left her incapable of making judgement calls. This may have lead her to commit a heinous crime. Quaid is Morrow's boss long hardened by the job. That's why the film might be better if it was he who became obsessed with helping Stone. Morrow's character is not well defined enough for us and - worse yet - he is too stereotypical and contrived. This isn't a real guy, he's a scriptwriter's concoction. By the way, the film was scripted by Ron Koslow from a story idea by Steven Haft.

In the end, the film seems like the film described throughout Robert Altman's "The Player." You know, the one that ends up corrupted by the time it gets to film with Bruce Willis saving Julia Roberts from the gas chamber. This film seems like a cinematic personification of that fictional idea. Worse yet, Gallagher, who was in "The Player" reinforces this notion by his presence here. It becomes a bit ironic and ridiculous.

But this seemingly ironic coincidence isn't as ridiculous as some of the things the filmmakers and scripter try and get away with here. When we see Morrow gaining more and more access to Stone, until finally he is allowed to spend the night in her cell, we know reality has taken the last bus out of town. Why the scripters felt that the woman- on-death-row storyline, which is rife with possibilities, needed to be further enhanced with romantic overtones is anyone's guess. This film takes way too many liberties.

"Last Dance" skips along with it's story at an adequate pace. But it doesn't make enough emotional touch-downs for it's characters to have any real motivation. In the end, we don't really understand why Morrow goes as far as he does for Stone. The script, direction, his acting, and the acting of his co-stars all fail him here. Worse yet, the film came out when Tim Robbins' emotional "Dead Man Walking" was still resonating with film-goers. Compared to that exemplary film, this story, dubbed by many synopsis writers as "Dead Woman Walking," didn't have a prayer.

Note:

Not based on a true story.

Also with Charles S. Dutton and Jayne Brook (of TV's "Chicago Hope").

Music by Mark Isham. Director of Photography is Peter James.

The Nepotism Factor: The title sequence girl is Trilby Beresford.

For some unknown reason the theme song for TV's "Ellen" by Texas is used briefly in the film. Pop songs by The BoDeans and Annie Lennox are also used.

Review written in 1996

Report Card

Script: D-

Acting: C+

Cinematography\Lighting: C

Special Effects\Make Up: F

Music: B+

Final Grade: D-