UNUSUAL, BUT A REAL CHEAT

Rating: 8/10 (30 April 2001)

Bryan Singer's "The Usual Suspects" is a good thriller, but how much you enjoy it will depend on personal taste. It has good acting (especially Kevin Spacey, who won an Oscar for this role), but it gets bogged down by it's plot and the ending is a real cheat.
Roughly, the film is one giant enigma: "Who is Keyser Soze?" We find the detective trying to figure out what happened during a heist gone bust: his only lead is Verbal Kint (Spacey) who weaves a tale of intrigue, double cross and even more questions than could possibly be answered during the rather short running time (108 minutes, it should have been about 30 minutes longer).
Ultimately, the film is all style, but very little substance. Style can be a good thing: look at Brian DePalma's best films (Dressed to Kill, Body Double, Blow Out, Obsession). "The Usual Suspects" has an ending very similar to "Dressed to Kill", but Singer can't pull it off the way DePalma did. It just can't be believed.
But the ultimate letdown of the film is hardly Singer's fault: he does an excellent job of directing a rather choppy and labyrinthine script and he does it with such style and grace (along with Spacey's performance) that I find myself recommending the film despite my reservations.

If you like to be confused and enjoy solving puzzles (like me), you'll like, maybe even love, "The Usual Suspects". But even those kinds of people will be compelled to say "ENOUGH!" after an hour and 20 minutes of this film.

*** out of 4 stars