Angel Eyes

This J. Lo showcase directed by Luis Mandoki (White Palace and Message in a Bottle) may be the most perplexing mélange of movie genres in recent history. It begins as a thriller of sorts with Lopez's Chicago cop being shadowed by an angular vagabond (James Caviezel). Then after Caviezel saves Lopez from a hood's bullet, the two become infatuated with each other and things veer toward romance. But along the way, there's little that will prepare you for the film's wrap -- a seething, melodramatic reconciliation of dysfunctional pasts. It's as if NYPD Blue got shot up with a dose of The X-Files and then banished to the soap-opera junkyard.

Although the tempo change-ups are disconcerting, they do put you off-balance and keep you guessing. Lopez and Caviezel bring plenty of flesh and blood to their roles, though all they're handed are shrouds of tragic mystery. She's submerged in a man's world with a troubled family; he's an aloof, broken soul with a drawer full of action figures and a cool tweed trenchcoat that would fetch a hefty price at any vintage clothing store. Beyond the stammering-execution and lingering mawkish moments, it's the insipid dialogue -- which at the screening I attended elicited unintentional chuckles -- that seals the film's fate. At the Apple Valley, Campus, Entertainment Cinemas (Swansea), Holiday, Showcase, and Tri-Boro cinemas.
-- Tom Meek