Striking Distance (1993)

Directed by Rowdy Herrington. Starring Bruce Willis, Sarah Jessica Parker, Dennis Farina, Tom Sizemore, Brion James, Robert Pastorelli, John Mahoney, Timothy Busfield, Andre Braugher. [R]

The generic title is warning enough that this is going to be a routine thriller stuffed full of clichés and genre reruns. Willis is a quasi-disgraced homicide detective now working for the Pittsburgh river rescue team, partnered with a woman (Parker) who he doesn’t like at first but eventually sleeps with, obsessed with a serial killer that had been presumed captured years ago but is wreaking havoc once again (and targeting Willis’ former flames, to boot). The “hero” is an alcoholic burn-out, the love interest exists just to be the love interest (minus a throwaway “twist” that doesn’t matter), most of the remaining supporting cast exists just to seem suspicious and behave antagonistically, the killer keeps coming back for more during the overlong climax, etc. Willis does Willis, Parker gives a performance out of late-night basic cable, Pastorelli devours the scenery, etc. The movie starts, the viewer yawns, the movie ends, etc. Probably should have been titled Et Cetera, in fact—it’s not necessarily worse than the one they landed on.

38/100