One Way Out

MAJOR SPOILERS -

One Way Out is the basic "good cop gone bad" drama in convenient, easy-to-chew straight-to-vid format.

Jim Belushi plays a tough homicide detective who finds himself in trouble with the mob because of his gambling addiction. The mobsters threaten to expose him and rough up his true love if he doesn't do them a favor. Since Belushi is the ultimate expert in homicide investigations, and knows the psychology of the investigatory procedure as well as all the investigators, the mob needs him to assist in the commission of a perfect murder.

Things seem to go along splendidly until he realizes that he is not an accessory to the murder - he is the murderer. The mob guys have decided that they not only wanted the victim dead, but they also wanted Belushi framed for the murder. Since he acted as advisor on the murder, it isn't difficult to set him up him with anonymous tips and clues.

Belushi brings some life to the cop character, and there is a certain mythic level of romance in Belushi's love for his female ex-partner, who is played by Angela Featherstone. It is not very original, and the minor characters are one dimensional, behaving only as they need to behave in order to further the plot, but Belushi and Featherstone do a good job with their roles, and the plot is reasonably interesting.

The final line is either very romantic or very corny depending on your point of view. Belushi is dying in Featherstone's arms, and he feels a need to confess. He tells her that he made a bad mistake and needs to tell her about it. She's a good cop. Thinking he'll confess to a major crime, a confession she could not ignore, she tries to quiet him, but he insists. He says the unexpected - "I made a mistake .... in letting you go"

DVD info from Amazon.

no widescreen
no features

He dies. End of film.

Yeah, I know the ending was corny, and it would have sounded artificial coming from Rob Lowe or somebody else whose characters often wear their emotions on their sleeves, but coming from Jim Belushi, Mr. Everyday Joe Blow, it had a sort of powerful, larger-than-life Byronic quality to it that struck me as pretty cool.

The Critics Vote

no major reviews available

The People Vote ...

IMDB summary. Voting results: IMDb voters score it 7.3/10. That's too high, but it is a decent watch.

The meaning of the IMDb score: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence equivalent to about three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, comparable to approximately two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, equivalent to about a two star rating from the critics. Films rated below five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film - this score is roughly equivalent to one and a half stars from the critics or even less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. (C+ means it has no crossover appeal, but will be considered excellent by genre fans). D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Based on this description, C. Not a bad flick for a straight-to-vid. If you like crime mysteries, I think it will meet your minimum requirements.