'Color of Night'
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| ‘Color of Night’ By Rita Kempley Washington Post Staff Writer August 19, 1994 | ||
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Willis plays Bill Capa, a Manhattan psychotherapist who quits his practice when a patient leaps to her death from his skyscraper office. As a pool of blood seeps from her body, Capa realizes he can no longer see the color red. "To deny red is to deny emotion," babbles Capa's own therapist. But Capa is destined to remain colorblind until he is atones for his mistakes.
He travels to Los Angeles to forget at the home of a more successful colleague, Bob Moore (Scott Bakula). Moore, whose huge home is barred, spotlighted and otherwise intruder-proofed, confides that he has been receiving death threats. He suspects they are coming from one of the five members of his Monday night therapy group, who serve not only as suspects but as comic relief.
Shortly after the conversation, Moore is found stabbed to death in his skyscraper office. The investigating officer (wicked, irreverent Ruben Blades) insists that Capa take over the "squirrel farm" and thus unmask the culprit. It comes as no surprise--not much here does, really--when Capa becomes the killer's new target. By now it's fairly obvious to all but the densest of audience members exactly which of the five is involved in the murder.
The hero throws himself into his work with the group, which includes Lesley Ann Warren, memorable as a twittering nymphomaniac, and Brad Dourif, hilarious as an obsessive-compulsive lawyer. But soon that gives way to Capa's relationship with the mysterious Rose (Jane March), a toothy Bambi who drives him wild with desire. March, a model who made her film debut in Jean-Jacques Annaud's adaptation of "The Lover," has two acting styles--stark naked and getting that way.
Willis is hardly credible as a mental health professional. And Capa, who seems to have studied psychiatry under Dr. Giggles, claims to have a special radar when it comes to diagnosing emotional disorders. In that case, how come the movie goes on for so darn long?
Stylishly directed by Richard Rush, "Color of Night" marks the filmmaker's eagerly awaited return to the screen more than a decade after the release of his cult classic, "The Stunt Man." He manages to give this illogical, overstuffed and understructured story some edge and flourish, but finally nothing can distract us from its sheer silliness.
Certainly not Bruce in his birthday suit.
Color of Night is rated R for nudity, explicit sex and violence.
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