"Jade" is a mess

celr

I liked the opening scenes, nice camera work. "Jade" opens with the camera moving through interior of a rich guy's opulent mansion. He's dead in an upstairs bedroom where his S&M equipment is located, along with his collection of exotic weapons, one of which has been used to kill him. Who could have done such a horrible deed? We know right away that the dead rich guy was a morally corrupt creep and probably got what he deserved, but the detective character, who is really an assistant district attorney (Caruso), has to investigate. Right away I didn't care much who did it. That's a bad sign in a mystery.

Now there's this woman, who's not only a psychiatrist but a prostitute, and a major psychopath: "Jade" (Fiorintino). She's married to the ADAs best friend, a rich defense attorney (Palminteri) and the ADA used to be in love with her. Neither knows that at night she goes out to a high-class whore house in Pacifica and sells her angular body to fulfill the twisted fantasies of rich, powerful, morally corrupt old men.

The plot doesn't so much thicken as curdle. The governor of the State of California (Crenna) is involved, and he's the most morally corrupt of all. Little more than a meaty Mafia boss or tinpot dictator, he orders hits and hurls threats. He should have a cigar to chew. And of course he too is a patron of the notorious "Jade." He's obviously responsible for several murders but, as others have pointed out, is never brought to justice.

This plot doesn't make any sense. "Jade," the psychopathic psychiatrist, is a cypher, we never get a sense of motive or emotion or even of emotional injury. She's as cold as dry ice. Caruso seems to want to save her, but really, didn't she bring it all on herself? And she is one of the most unlikable, and most un-sexy femme fatales ever to flounce on the silver screen. She obviously hates having sex with her husband, but he wants her even more when he finds out she's rotten.

This stylish thriller is just too stylish for its own good. It's all surface. The characters are shallow and unlikable, the plot makes no sense, the chase scenes are well done but contribute nothing to the story. If you like a glitzy surface you might like "Jade" but otherwise, forget it.

score 2/10

celr 8 December 2006

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1539859/