- Actors: Andy Garcia, Uma Thurman, Lance Henriksen, Graham Beckel, Kathy Baker
- Directors: Bruce Robinson
- Writers: Bruce Robinson
- Producers: David Wimbury, Gary Lucchesi, Grace Gilroy, Scott Rudin, Stephen Lim
- Format: PAL
- Language English
- Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: 15
- Studio: Paramount
- DVD Release Date: 18 Mar 2002
- Run Time: 124 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00005UO5Y
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 39,402 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
Written and directed by Bruce Robinson (Withnail and I), this fast-moving potboiler finds its creator getting about as far from Withnail's fine wines and London and Lake District settings as it's possible to get, and into the world of bloody homicides, narrative red herrings and emotionally damaged policemen. John Berlin (Andy Garcia) is a big-city cop and, yes, that means he drinks a lot of coffee and has a terrible personal life (in this case, signified by a wife who just can't stop cheating on him). Leaving town to visit his understanding brother-in law and fellow detective Freddy Ross (Lance Henriksen), he promptly finds himself embroiled in the hunt for a serial killer with a grisly modus operandi for murdering blind women. As you might expect, it's not long before he's bumbling his way into a number of confrontations with the hick cops around him and an affair with Helena (Uma Thurman), the blind room-mate of one of the killer's victims.
Slick and pacey, Jennifer 8 throws out so many plot that it eventually winds up falling over them in its haste to get to the overblown climax. Nothing here makes a great deal of sense and yet, despite its inherent cosmic silliness, Robinson handles the suspense-and-relief routine with a flashy aplomb, and the cast do well in the face of the material's shortcomings. (John Malkovich's brief appearance is a redemptive highlight, even if you do have to wait almost 90 minutes for it). --Danny Leigh
Product Description
English, French, Italian and German Languages. Spanish, , English, Arabic, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovenian, Swedish and Turkish Subtitles.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
Unfairly ignored on its release and cut by 30 minutes by the studio this is an interesting but flawed serial killer movie from Britains best sreenwriter. Great performances and an atmospheric setting and sparkeling dialogue didn't help this movie on release because the overrated silence of the lambs was released around the same time. I wish someone would release a directors cut and give Bruce Robinson some money to make another film soon.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
As readers of the excellent collection of interviews with Bruce Robinson (Smoking in Bed) will note- this film is incomplete. This was due to studio intervention, who typically wanted the running time reduced by twenty-minutes to get to that 2-hour mark (despite the fact that many box-office successes and/or classics frequently step over this mark- e.g. The Godfather, Titanic, Harry Potter, Schindler's List etc). This is the kind of thinking that made films like Hannibal so empty...
...Robinson doesn't appear to have any interest in putting together this butchered film- so Jennifer 8 will always be flawed; a could-have been...Conrad Hall (American Beauty, The Road to Perdition) contributes stunning photography- many scenes pre-date the look of things like The X Files, Se7en(the constant rain) and the severely average remake of Insomnia. The bath/flashbulb scene is particularly excellent, a neo-noir take on films like Peeping Tom & Psycho. Other great scenes are the one in the diner regarding Berlin's dream of God (up there with films like Homicide & Pulp Fiction in terms of dialogue)& the interogation scene with John Malkovich (whose theatrical presence works here- whereas in many films it seems rather hammy). Pity that the 90-second staring match between Garcia & Malkovich was excised; still- very potent stuff.
Another problem of the film lies in the casting, Robinson had wanted a then out of favour Al Pacino to star as the recovering alcoholic divorcee- but was forced to take a rising Andy Garcia (who is now just reaching the age where he would be suited to this). Garcia gives a very good performance- I wonder if the moniker Berlin alludes to a troubled past and new start (i.e. the fall of the Berlin Wall a few years before this film)- probably just me being anal...Lance Henriksen, Kathy Baker & the other more unfamiliar actors give sterling performances- Uma Thurman is wonderful here- a key performance that ranks next to Joan Allen in Manhunter (1986).
The denoument of the film is woeful, Berlin never arriving to save the day makes little sense and the final scene (I Remember Red) was just an out-take tacked on- would have been nice to see the original ending where you discover Taylor has a bullet-proof vest and Baker hasn't killed him...
Jennifer 8 is worth watching, though the final third drags and the final scenes are mostly an insult to anyone with any intelligence- they should have been like Silence of the Lambs or Manhunter tension-wise. Fingers crossed for a 'directors'- cut!
Format:DVD
A superb film that keeps you on the edge of your seat untill the end.
My wife and I sat and watched it from start to finish in one go.
After ordering from Amazon it arrived in double quick time and was being veiwed
immediately
My wife and I sat and watched it from start to finish in one go.
After ordering from Amazon it arrived in double quick time and was being veiwed
immediately
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great!
Jennifer 8 has to be one of the best films I have ever seen. I've been trying to find it on dvd for a while now but the dvd's I have found are always second hand or are quite... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Dani
THRILLER WITH A TWIST
All star cast, Garcia never dissapoints, a who done it, with a suprise ending.
Recommended
Recommended
Published on 10 Jun 2009 by Ms. C. A. Lorac
A good idea marred by a slightly mumbled plot...
Robinson once famously declared that he only sits down to write after his second bottle of red wine. Read more
Published on 23 Aug 2004
off-beat
The cinematic assessment from a reviewer who clearly knows his stuff has been done (above) so I am just going to concentrate on the film moments which has made this particular... Read more
Published on 15 Feb 2003
Bruce is still a master...
The actors are in total symbiosis and with lines like....(god): "I don't listen to peoples prayers, they're junk mail!".....the movie is still a hit. Read more
Published on 15 Jan 2001
Like old fashioned thrillers? Jennifer 8 is worth a watch.
As a thriller, Jennifer 8 is a mix of Hitchcock and made-for-TV drama, but don't let that put you off. Read more
Published on 10 Dec 2000
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