Review: A Stranger Among Us

Melanie Griffith plays a tough cop (!) who moves into the Hasidic Jewish community (!) to solve a murder and jewel heist (!!). In the meantime she starts to have romantic feelings for a pensive young Jewish scholar (Eric Thal), hoping to become the next Rebbe (or head Rabbi). Lee Richardson plays the current Rebbe, who isn’t happy with Griffith’s suggestion that one of his own might be in on the crime, if not the actual perpetrator. Jamey Sheridan plays Griffith’s injured partner on the force and occasional fuck buddy, John Pankow is a Jewish cop who nonetheless isn’t a fan of the Hasidic sect, James Gandolfini plays one of a pair of mobsters, and Mia Sara plays a meek Jewish girl who helps Griffith adjust to her new surroundings.

 

Sidney Lumet might just be the most schizophrenic filmmaker of all-time. When on target, some of the greatest films ever made were the result; “12 Angry Men”, “The Hill”, “Dog Day Afternoon”, “Network”, and “Serpico”. Hell, even “The Offence” and “The Deadly Affair” are extremely underrated. But this is the same guy capable of churning out crap like “Power” and “Equus”, as well as disappointments like “Prince of the City”, “Q & A”, and “Family Business”. This 1992 flop cemented itself in the crap category from the moment I read the plot synopsis. “Witness” it ain’t (though Lumet barely conceals the fact that he’s trying for a female version of “Witness” with quaint Jews instead of quaint Amish people), and in fact it might have one of the worst plots of all-time in addition to one of the worst casting decisions of all-time at its centre. Melanie Griffith, daughter of a mediocre actress in her own right (Tippi Hedren), is quite frankly ludicrous and woefully unconvincing here. I have no idea how a director with a seemingly keen eye for casting previously could cock it up so badly this time. She doesn’t even bother to deglamorise for the hard-boiled role, and her helium-voice is all wrong. The woman just hasn’t got a strong enough presence or voice to sell the part. Instead, she alternates between being shrill and mousy. When she holds or fires a gun in the air, she comes off less like Gena Rowlands in “Gloria” or Angie Dickinson on “Police Woman”, and more like Estelle Getty in “Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot” or Marion Ramsey in the “Police Academy” films.

 

And then the ridiculous Hassidic wigs turn up. Is this a comedy? The portrayal of Hasidic Jews here certainly seems to suggest it, as does the borderline racist, jaunty music delivered by composer Jerry Bock which truly has to be heard to be believed. It’s insultingly stereotypical and pathetic. I kept waiting for Mel Brooks or ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic to turn up. No surprises to learn that Bock was one of the men behind “Fiddler on the Roof”, then. Oy! Meanwhile, even for 1992, Griffith’s character is insanely naive and frankly a bit rude towards the Hasidic community here, and only Eric Thal is able to not come across as insulting or absurd amongst the Hasidic characters. Given the ludicrous quasi-romance between he and Griffith, he comes off rather OK, if a tad dull. Mia Sara, meanwhile is badly wasted in a nothing role. John Pankow is probably the next best behind Thal, and at least shows a bit of personality.

 

In addition to being racially stereotyped and stupid, this is just a boring film, I can’t imagine what appeal Lumet saw in the screenplay by Robert J. Avrech (Brian De Palma’s abysmal “Body Double”). The dialogue in particular is at times truly pathetic, and this is really bad TV movie material, undeserving of higher stature. And did we need yet another movie where a religious pacifist is forced to take up violent actions? That shit wasn’t new when Ernest Borgnine played an Amish farmer turned reluctant vigilante in the 1955 film “Violent Saturday”. The man behind “Dog Day Afternoon” and “Serpico” was having one of his ‘off’ days here, I’m afraid, and not even the unintentional comic value of Melanie Griffith trying to act tough can make this dull film enjoyable.

 

Rating: D+