Q and A

Rating

Director

Alan Smithee (Sidney Lumet)

Screenplay

Alan Smithee (Sidney Lumet) (Book: Edwin Torres)

Length

2h 12m

Starring

Nick Nolte, Timothy Hutton, Armanda Assante, Patrick O’Neal, Lee Richardson, Luis Guzman, Charles Dutton, Jenny Lumet, Paul Calderon, International Chrysis, Dominic Chianese, Leonardo Cimino, Fyvush Finkel

MPAA Rating

R

Review

PREFACE:
In the early 2000s, I was writing reviews for an outfit called Apollo Guide Reviews. That website has since been closed down.

Attempting to reconstruct those reviews has been an exercise in frustration. Having sent them to Apollo Guide via email on a server I no longer have access to (and which probably doesn’t have records going back that far), my only option was to dig through The Wayback Machine to see if I could find them there. Unfortunately, while I found a number of reviews, a handful of them have disappeared into the ether. At this point, almost two decades later, it is rather unlikely that I will find them again.

Luckily, I was able to locate my original review of this particular film. Please note that I was not doing my own editing at the time, Apollo Guide was. As such, there may be more than your standard number of grammatical and spelling errors in this review. In an attempt to preserve what my style had been like back then, I am not re-editing these reviews, which are presented as-is.

REVIEW:
In law and politics, there is a fine line between right and wrong, and sometimes wicked people are in charge of the good and righteous and conflicts arise that could topple the lofty aspirations of both parties.

Q & A stars Nick Nolte as a dirty cop who shoots a drug dealer in self defence, although witnesses testify that it was cold-blooded murder. District Attorney Kevin Quinn (Patrick O’Neal) brings in ex-cop-turned-attorney Al Reilly (Timothy Hutton), son of a decorated ex-cop, to perform a question and answer session for the court that will clear Nolte’s Mike Brennan of all charges. During one of these many sessions, a mob thug, Bobby Texador (Armand Assante), reveals information that could lead to Brennan’s conviction. The problem is that Texador’s new wife Nancy (Jenny Lumet) is Al’s ex girlfriend.

The movie revolves around Al’s pursuit of the truth against mounting odds. The trail goes from hot to cold throughout, and much like the television movies that this film resembles, Q & A focuses its attention on several loose plot points threaded together into a weak tapestry of a movie. The film gives its audience everything they are expecting, but drags its conclusion on for longer than necessary only to reveal an ending that feels like a codicil attached to a will.

Hutton turns in a believable performance as the beleaguered attorney who must reconcile his own emotions for his long lost love while trying to thwart a blood-thirsty copy who will stop at nothing to hide his wrongdoings. Nolte takes his role to his own traditional extreme and gives us a villain so rich that we can’t help but hope for his failure. Assante is equally impressive in a role that could have been played by anyone, but not as well. His vehement tone and mannerisms give the audience pause to question whether his character is good or evil. Lumet rounds out the cast as the overly emotional ex-lover. Her performance is filled with unnecessary crying fits that only emphasize her inability to act.

Director Sidney Lumet does everything he can with a screenplay that wouldn’t even win an Emmy. He keeps the pace suitable to the plot, but the plot doesn’t keep a pace likely to satisfy any audience. Q & A feels like it rambles for the last half hour and the amazingly uninspired conclusion betrays the film’s lofty promise.

Q & A is the type of film that wastes a good afternoon with delicious performances and weak writing. Suitable only for the small screen, Q & A simply doesn’t work without being propped up by good actors.

Review Written

November 11, 2003