Cast: Jeff Bridges, Glenn Close, Peter Coyote, Robert Loggia
Director: Richard Marquand
Producer: Martin Ransohoff
Screenplay: Joe Eszterhas
Cinematography: Matthew F. Leonetti
Music: John Barry
U.S. Distributor: Columbia Pictures
At first glance, it might appear that Jagged Edge is a cleverly-scripted mystery that asks not the question "Whodunnit?" but "Did he do it?" However, upon closer examination, it becomes clear that the screenplay for this film is rather pedestrian: filled with cliches, formulas, and typical red herrings, and with twists that aren't as unexpected as they initially seem. Instead, what success this movie achieves is due more to solid direction and competent acting than to what spilled out of Joe Eszterhas' pen.
The chief suspect in the brutal murder of Page Forrester is her husband, Jack (Jeff Bridges), the person who stood the most to gain. Page was rich, and Jack inherits everything, making him the lone target of an investigation launched by DA Thomas Krasny (Peter Coyote). When a witness claims to have seen the possible murder weapon in Jack's gym locker, the widowed newspaper executive is arrested.
For his defense, Jack wants Teddy Barnes (Glenn Close), a one-time assistant under Krasny. Teddy hasn't practiced criminal law for four years since procedural violations allowed her to convict an innocent man. The thought of acquitting Jack - whom she believes to be innocent - seems an appropriate salve to her conscience. With the help of her investigative friend Sam Ransom (Robert Loggia), she constructs a defense, unaware that neither her client nor the DA are being straight with her.
Jagged Edge came to the screen before the surge of late-eighties and early-nineties courtroom thrillers. At the time, although it wasn't unique, at least the film could claim to be different from the run-of-the-mill murder mystery. In fact, Jagged Edge scored well enough at the box office to spawn a legion of copycat thrillers, the most infamous of which was another Eszterhas product, Basic Instinct.
The plot isn't all that complex, and the only reason it isn't possible to discover the truth before the climax is that the script doesn't offer enough clues. Eszterhas is content to manipulate the audience first one way, then the other, without regard for what makes sense as far as the characters are concerned. Jack's personality is inconsistent. At times he acts like a killer; on other occasions he comes across as a victim. It all depends on what the writer wants the audience to think at a given moment.
Fortunately, director Richard Marquand and his actors are up to the challenge of transforming a mediocre script into an entertaining film. Bridges does a fine job reconciling the conflicting elements of Jack's character. Coyote is deliciously dislikeable as the unethical, politically-motivated DA. Close is an engaging mix of vulnerability and strength in a role that doesn't demand a sex symbol performance. Loggia, who earned an Oscar nomination, lends a bit of refreshingly honest cynicism to the proceedings.
The ending is the film's weakest segment. Including a hard-to-swallow (even in this context) contrivance and an anticlimactic final scene, the scripting gets too sloppy here for even the actors to pull things together. Eszterhas apparently was unwilling to take any real risks, since the last fifteen minutes of his story proceed in a predictable, unfulfilling fashion.
Like many entries into the genre, Jagged Edge works best when it's watched with a minimum of analysis. There are a fair number of gaffes, flaws, and other assorted problems, and the plot looks progressively less substantial the more closely it's examined. However, the bottom line is that the crux of the story - whether or not Jack is guilty - is engrossing, and it isn't until we know the answer that the movie really seems to let us down.
© 1994 James Berardinelli