In 1981, a film by the name of "Body Heat" came along and stirred up the older film genre known as film noir. Injecting southern, steamy sex into what was essentially a remake of Billy Wilder's "Double Indemnity" (1944), the film dealt with a somewhat dimwitted man whose hormones got into the way of his better sense, causing him to get wrapped up with a seductive femme fatale and her twist-filled plans.
Following in the well-received footsteps of Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck and William Hurt and Kathleen Turner, we now have Woody Harrelson and Elisabeth Shue filling out the roles of the gullible guy and the seductress with a plan in "Palmetto." Set in the steamy Florida town of the same name, the film has the requisite sweaty bodies, dark shadows, ceiling fans, murder, and more than its share of twists to easily qualify for the noir genre. Although everything's in place, this simmering stew of a story was unfortunately taken off the stove about a half hour before it was done. While the ingredients are there, the lack of proper preparation makes this a rather bland course.
That's actually surprising considering that the casting seems near-perfect for the characters needed in this genre. Who better to play the dimwitted, partially gullible and certainly down on his luck man then Woody Harrelson? Although he's since gone to become a movie star (a rare feat to accomplish coming from the "idiot box" as my father used to call the TV), Harrelson will always be remembered playing Woody Boyd, the dimwitted, but charming bartender on the long running "Cheers." Then there's Elisabeth Shue, an attractive woman with a figure accentuated by her tight, form-fitting clothes who would bring most men to their knees, let alone cause them to accept her plan after a roll in the bed.
So, you may ask, where does the movie go wrong? Simply put, it's the characters' mixed up motivations. While they may look and somewhat act their parts, Harrelson's and Shue's characters and their actions just aren't believable. Instead of playing the seductress like Turner in "Body Heat," Shue delivers a ditsy seductress, who went not throwing her curves around, likes to play dress up in wigs and/or playfully assume other identities. At times she shows hints of malevolence, but usually she comes across as rather tame.
In fact, the film makers took a risky gamble by playing Shue ("Adventures in Babysitting," "The Karate Kid") against type, and switching her persona with characters usually played by the likes of Gina Gershon, who herself plays against her normal type. The effects are nothing more than a little interesting. Had Shue played a more villainous creation, that would have been one thing, but her performance (playing it the way the role is written) makes one wish that they had left the actresses alone and kept Gershon in the "bad girl" role, leaving Shue to play the faithful girlfriend.
The bigger problem lies with Harrelson's inconsistent character. Sure, we understand he's supposed to be gullible and fall prey to Shue's seduction, all of which causes him to fall deeper and deeper in trouble. The fact is, we see one thing, but we're told another. He may act dimwitted, but we're told that he was a terrific investigative reporter, and the two personas certainly don't match. Perhaps the time in prison changed the man, but it's just not believable that he could so easily fall prey to the seduction, let alone be persuaded to assist in the plan.
First off, he's just spent two years in jail, and should never have been there in the first place (he was framed). There's no way he would risk going back if he's truly the innocent, honest man we're consistently told he is. Then there's the fact that he wouldn't do this for only $50,000 -- the risks far outweigh the gains. And a one-time romp in the hay with Shue certainly wouldn't and shouldn't be all the persuasion he needs, especially when his girlfriend is a knockout herself (Gina Gershon from "Bound" and "Showgirls"). Unfortunately, director Volker Schlondorff (the award-winning and older, but recently controversial, "The Tin Drum") and screenwriters E. Max Frye and Matthias Wendlandt (working from the James Hadley Chase novel, "Just Another Sucker"), have exactly followed that path.
It's never once believable, and the fact that we can't accept any of that taints our ability to fully enjoy the rest of the ride. All of that's too bad, because a few simple tweaks of the plot could have fixed those problems. For instance: Harry's drunk/despondent/delirious, he sleeps with Shue who seduced him, and then finds out that she's going to tell his girlfriend (who can get him a position with the only company in town that will hire an ex-con) if he doesn't go along with the kidnaping plan. With that, or many other possible scenarios (including, perhaps, a revenge motive against Malroux), the motivation would be believable. As it stands, one can't even accept that he returns to the dead-end town of Palmetto (that he adamantly states at the beginning that he'll never return to) let alone that he gets involved in a hair-brained scheme like this.
If you can get past the motivation-based problems, the film then proceeds to offer the requisite twists and turns as we watch Harry sink deeper and deeper into an ever expanding, problem-filled hole. Some of them are "fun" and somewhat surprising, and it's a blast watching Harrelson slowly but surely realize what he's gotten himself into. Even so, the characters can't fully escape from their ridiculously written parts.
For instance, Harry's girlfriend, whom we know little about other than that she welds metal scraps into art, seemingly accepts that he has the body of a dead girl in his trunk -- and may be responsible, but once she learns that he slept with Rhea, she then says that she's had enough (even though she still sticks around). C'mon, nobody will buy into that notion, but then again I guess we're supposed to believe that Harry would be enticed by Rhea in the first place when he has the very attractive Nina back home.
Other stupid moments abound that only further dampen our interest in the film. Would Harry really leave the trunk of the car open (there's a dead girl inside) when at any moment his girlfriend could walk in? Or, would he give her a tape recording of the original plan knowing full well that his later sexual escapades were recorded, and would she play this tape in a cab where the driver would hear the murderous intentions? Then there's the bit where Harry calls the "kidnaped" girl from none other than the D.A.'s office (albeit a door away, but still!). If the filmmakers had originally made him the Woody Body/Jethro Bodine of Palmetto, that would have been one thing, but if that were so, the D.A.'s office wouldn't have hired him in the first place.
This is one of those films you wished would work and are therefore that much more disappointed when it doesn't. A talented cast is wasted in poorly thought out roles, and what makes all of that worse is that with a little tweaking the film could have been so much better. Although in hindsight the film's plot structure works and the twists and turns add the usual fun element to offerings of this noir genre, the film could have used more characters attempting to double cross each other.
The "big" surprises come at the end when we learn whom everyone really is, but beyond their identities, their actions are not at all surprising. It would have been much more fun and compelling had more characters been in on the original plan thus indicating that Harry was supremely set up. As it stands, there are some decent moments, but the film cannot survive the motivational problems that occur in both plot and character. Therefore, we give "Palmetto" a 4 out of 10.