Gary Oldman lurches through the grunge once again for the sake of his art in this bloodsoaked story that's described as a black comedy, but isn't much like any comedy you ever saw, and difficult to follow. Oldman's a cop on the make who hoards his mob bribes in a hole in his yard, is fond of his wife (Annabella Sciorra, good in a thankless role) and his mistress (Juliette Lewis), but comes unstuck when he becomes involved with a ruthless hit-girl (Lena Olin). There's also a matter of the Mob don (Roy Scheider) cutting off one of his toes, when one of his tip-offs go wrong. Yes, Oldman's in a mess. And it gets worse. Unlike the film, which actually gets a bit better (though not much) towards the end. Olin does her best to be bad, Lewis offers her mindless bimbo act, and Oldman, looking like Dick Powell, kills or nearly gets killed by everyone. Very slow, doomy and full of unnecessary excesses, the film demands your devotion to the star to see it through. A tremendous cast deserves something better.

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