Crimes of Passion

Plot synopsis:
Bobby Grady (John Laughlin) is an ordinary middle-class electronics store owner who occasionally moonlights doing surveillance work. He attends a group therapy session because his wife, Amy (Annie Potts), has lost interest in sex and he fears their marriage is in trouble.
Grady is soon approached by the owner of a fashion design house to spy on an employee, Joanna Crane (Kathleen Turner), who is suspected of selling clothing patterns to his competitors. Grady discovers the accusations are unfounded, but also finds out that Joanna is moonlighting as a prostitute using the name China Blue, and shedding her business attire for provocative clothing and a platinum wig.
Grady keeps quiet about Joanna's double life. After having an erotic encounter with her in her China Blue persona, Grady begins seeing her on a regular basis, first professionally, then romantically. However, their involvement is complicated by his guilt and her intimacy issues — not to mention her clientele of regular patrons and their bizarre sexual fetishes.
Among them is the "Reverend" Peter Shayne (Anthony Perkins), who alternately spends his time delivering soapbox sermons on the street, visiting peep shows while sniffing amyl nitrite, and patronizing prostitutes. Shayne has been seeing China Blue as a customer and declares a misguided need to "save" her. (When he says, "Save your soul, whore!", she replies, "Save your money, shithead.") Underscoring Shayne's contradictory nature is the cache of sex toys he carries in a small doctor's bag with his Bible.
Grady admits he may leave his wife and children, but Joanna feels put-upon and depressed. She seeks solace in turning tricks because the encounters are not fraught with emotional entanglements. She dominates a young policeman in an S&M session, penetrating him with his nightstick, and endures a botched three-way in a limousine. A session with a dying man whose wife wants China Blue to give him sexual gratification one last time inspires Joanna to reveal her real first name, suggesting for the first time that she is the proverbial "hooker with a heart of gold."
Shayne grows increasingly psychotic: he carries a sharpened metallic vibrator he nicknames "Superman" and starts stalking Joanna. He moves into a seedy motel next door to her nighttime place of business and watches her activities through a peephole. He also sets up a shrine with candles and numerous photos of her. Sensing that he is mentally unhinged, Joanna no longer wishes to see him, but Shayne follows her home to her actual apartment. Once there, he begs her to kill him.
Grady comes there to tell Joanna that he has left home. He hears shouting from her apartment, breaks down her door and finds someone he assumes is Joanna, cowering in terror, not realizing it is actually Shayne in her China Blue disguise. Joanna, now wearing Shayne's clothing, leaps from the shadows and stabs Shayne with the "Superman" vibrator before he can attack Grady with a large pair of scissors. Shayne dies, convinced that his sacrifice has "saved" them both.
The film ends with Grady addressing his group therapist about his new relationship with a woman named Joanna.

Tags: murder

Review:
Buckle Your Seat Belts You are In For A Ride!.
This is a slick roller coaster ride of a crime drama.
because of the many, many, plot twists it's hard to summarize this movie without giving away something so all I can say is that this movie starts with a plan for a married man along with a beautiful co-worker of his to defraud his employers out of millions of dollars and ends up with blackmail and murder.
All of this is common in movies like this, but what isn't so common is that in Crimes of Passion, while you may think you have everything worked out but at the finale you never know who is going to walk away alive.I gave it seven stars out of ten only because there was maybe one or two plot twists too many; those last two being just a little too improbable to really set well.
At the end all I could only say was, "Oh, good grief!" Like all roller coaster rides, this one left me dizzy at end, but it kept me watching nonetheless..
partly predictable, derivative, but somehow entertaining.
This has Lifetime stamped all over it, which is never really a great thing but doesn't have to be a bad thing.The stars, although IMDb doesn't list them, are Jonathan Higgins, Dina Meyer, and Amy Sloan.
The Dina character sues the Higgins character for sexual harassment, and there the fun begins.If you're familiar with the genre, most of this movie can be figured out in the first reel.
It's nonetheless entertaining in its derivative way.
Dina Meyer does a fine job and is a beautiful woman, and Jonathan Higgins is convincing as a nervous wreck.
The end has a neat twist to it.It's a little slow-moving and, as stated, you can see most of it coming a mile away, but Meyer definitely elevates it..
worth watching until the end.
Crimes of Passion serves twists and turns at every move and is worth watching until the end.An unfaithful husband and his mistress set up a sex harassment charge only to be tricked at every turn.Jonathan Higgins is suitably pathetic as the dithery,unfaithful husband, Dina Meyer stunning as the temptress.The location scenery in this film is beautiful and sensitively shotThe final shot is worth waiting for and should make errant husbands wonder a/ why any woman would actually fall for them and b/ why any man should even think about straying.
Delicious..
much better than standard Lifetime thriller.
The bare outline of this story is familiar, as several reviewers have noted.
But many successful theatrical thrillers also tread familiar narrative ground.
The thriller is a genre that covers a relatively limited range of plot lines, but we don't mind, provided the story has some element of originality, the characters are engaging and the direction is well paced and properly suspenseful.
It's unfortunate that the brief description of the plot contained on some venues already gives away the central twist.
Still, there's enough left to keep the viewer engaged.
The acting is uneven, from the typical Lifetime amateurishness to a few professional performances, especially in this case from Amy Sloan, playing the wife of the male lead.
But what kept this viewer engaged was the story line, which was good enough for a theatrical release - IF a bigger budget, a better director and better actors were provided.
Nonetheless, this movie is far better than what we expect from Lifetime.
The plot line, even when sometimes predictable, never drags and the twists, even when anticipated, somehow work.
Crimes of Passion is worth your time..
One of the best ever made-for-TV movies..
Had this movie reflected the normal, routine acting, direction and production values of a made-for-TV movie, it would have to be rated 5 to 6.
But this was a big screen quality production which proved it can be done for a modest fee.
The little known actors were excellent, the lighting, sound and photography were as good or better than the most expensively produced big screen movies.
The plot, while very good, was greatly enhanced by the quality of the production.
We'll certainly research, record and view more made-for T V movies, based on this experience and we'll specifically seek out the offerings of the production company responsible for this film..
Iinteresting but slow moving.
This is another LMN soap opera detective story with so many twists you lose track of the concept.
Interesting characters, mainly the three leads, Amy Sloan, Jonathan Higgins and Rebecca Walker.
With some good supporting players in the shady lawyer and "best friend" to Jonathan.
Won't go into plot, only yo say it went on too long and commercials interfered with the suspense.Amy Sloan as the "other woman" did a remarkable job and is a gorgeous knockout that you can understand why the hubby left his wife for her.
The hubby, Jonathan Higgins, was at times too much of the nervous twit.
I just wanted him to end it all.
He gets on your nerves after a while.
The wife, not so attractive Rebecca Walker, is mis cast and rather a dull and boring actress.
But, even her bad performance didn't take it away from the other two.
Fortunately she isn't in the picture that much.The title should be changed to Crimes of Stupidity.
For there certainly was no passion in this film between the players.
I give it a 5 for the writing..
Ending flushed the movie down the toilet..
This movie was full of action and I stayed up until 3 in the morning to see the end unfortunately it all went down the drain.
In the end every interesting character is dead while the whiny and annoying Ex-wife walks away free with all of the money.
Like any good book, if the ending stinks then it wasn't worth reading in the first place.
Yes she is supposed to be a victim in all of this, but I could not find any way to feel sorry for her.
She only came across as needy and impossible to please.
Don't get me wrong, great movie with plenty of action and plot twists, but the ending ruins it for me.
I would have been happy if at least Jonathan Higgins had lived and just went to prison.
The way it went just totally turned me off..
Stick around for this one.
Some Lifetime flicks drag in spots - this one does - but "Crimes of Passion" is more fascinating, overall, than most, and does provide serpentine twists at the conclusion.
These, and decent performances by the four primary characters, make it worth watching through to the end, despite some occasional convoluted plot developments and the above-mentioned "drag."One of the two primary leads, Jonathan Higgins, could be called "a poor man's Nicolas Cage." He bears resemblance to the latter, and Nicholas is often low-key and a bit off-center in his characterizations, as is Higgins, but with just a proportion of Cage's talent, and none of his charisma.
He's also not in the best of mental health, and throughout (especially when attempting to reach his out-of-town shrink towards the end), seems like what "Monk" might be, were he to engage in criminality (but sans Tony Shalhoub's personality and talent level).**** Spoiler following ****I would add this to conform to this site's requirements, and this might perhaps provide information as to the ending -- however, I don't believe it would really "spoil" it, and might serve to encourage some who might change channels to watch to conclusion.Married leads "A" and "B" are splitting-up; she appears at times during the opus to claim her needed stipends from hubby, and they banter nervously and loudly throughout.
But "A" has conspired with the winsome "C," to gain a large wad of cash, however, unfortunately, professional investigator "D" has knowledge of their deed and windfall, and wants a major cut.But ----- "C" is really in cahoots with "D," and, near the climax, this is revealed to "A." In the ensuing tussle, "D" if offed, and then, as "A" and "C" are about to have some sort of showdown, all of a sudden "B" appears at the remote locale.
She's the only one not preciously involved in the nefarious activities, but she possesses the means to dispatch "C" forthwith.At this point "A" is dangling from the edge of a deck, high above-ground (from which "D" previously fell to his demise).
So there now remains only the original couple ("A"/"B"), divorce still only pending, with him needing her assistance, or he'll fall to his demise alongside "D."Scene dissolves to "B" being questioned, alone, and exonerated at police station.
The only "innocent" heretofore in this opus, she walks freely from the station, opens the trunk of her vehicle.
Guess what she views in the satchel firmly stored in the trunk..
More story than the usual LMN thriller.
This fast moving and plot filled thriller is entertaining and watchable.
After a fake sexual harassment suit goes down things spiral more and more out of control.
Dina Meyer is always watchable and pretty..
A Devious Cat-and-Mouse Game.
The characters in this film are so repellent that they even make the attorneys look like saints.Jerry Dennings has spent ten years moving his way up in to a VP in a large corporation.
But in this film, he turns out to be the hapless looser in a scam to defraud his company of $10 million.Jerry's partner in crime is the much more savvy Rebecca Walker, who is the key player in the $10 million settlement for wrongful termination of Jerry from his job.
It is clear that Rebecca has all the brains in the planning of the scheme, as apparent in the following dialogue:JERRY: How do we know they haven't sent these photos to the police?REBECCA: Because we're not in jail.With this level of banter, the film is lively, and the plot twists keep piling up.
Nearly all of the characters are shady with the possible exception of Jerry's mousy wife Shannon, who just seems to keep showing up at the most awkward moments in Jerry's tumultuous life.
Although he he is now unemployed and has received a $10 payout, he finds a way to keep constantly on the defense from his fellow schemers.At stake in this film is a $10 million payout for the last man or woman standing.
The question is who will have the most resolve, stamina, and creativity to eliminate the cutthroat competition for the big jackpot..
Get Ur Freak On. Well, I went to a DVD exchange store looking for the 1984's classic, and the attendant came to me with this.
After asking which year it's been released in, she responded me it was the 84's.
Long story short: I was fooled.
The internet comments towards this made me feel like I was about to have one of the worst film sessions of my life but, fortunately, in fact, I ended up enjoying this version.
"Crimes of Passion" delighted me due to its fast paced story; there are a lot of things going on all the time, so you never have time to get things straight.
The plot is filled with people with bad spirit; characters you think you're liking are, most of the time, just another deception.
So, that being said, it's evident that we're given a lot of twists that bring some surprise to the story-- albeit appealing to the old greedy moral lesson we've all seen before.
Also, I agree that some twists are over the top, making me doubt whether I was seeing a good movie or not.
Either way, defects aside, "Crimes of Passion" is a very entertaining picture for those who like suspenseful thrillers, and maybe the female attendant wasn't that mean with me..
Dina Meyer is The Only Miscast Here !.
Another TV production, so why to watch ?
I tell you...It got (Dina Meyer) in it, OHH then let's watch it for sure !
The movie got on it the name of (Brad Mirman) the writer of cinematic slick flicks like (Body of Evidence - 1993).
In fact this kind of sexual thrillers became a common fashion after the exploding of (Basic Instinct) at the start of the 1990s to have movies like : (Sliver - 1993), (Jade - 1995), (Wild Things - 1998).
So (Crimes of Passion - 2005) is just tracking this previous work yet by the average TV's measures, and without the heavy sexuality.
But all in all it looked like another rip-off from the good old (Double Indemnity - 1944) !Maybe the chain of surprises at the first half was good however the cold acting with the very very traditional direction ruined it.
And the second half was completely predictable for me.
Although I'm a scriptwriter but it doesn't take one to disclose it because any moviegoer with brain can uncover the whole thing, and at the middle of it also.
I was guessing a lot of twists that some of them turned out to be better than the original ones eventually.
For instance : the hidden conspiracy between (Meyer) and the other man conceals more malicious conspiracy between (Meyer) and the grasping wife (Rebecca Walker), and perhaps they're lesbians too !, or some things like that.The main weak points were : too many dialogues, yes, it's a TV but not a TV series !
Not to mention that the writer forgot about a consecutive commercials would interrupt it all the time !
The assured hypothesis that (Jerry) or the husband or whoever the jerky victim was, would kill for the sake of his hot mistress !
Why it's that assured ??
Over and above that twist at the end, when the wife takes the money for herself, it's nothing but a try to make you leave your seat feeling deceitfully that it's overall kind of a new.
As they knew so well that you've already watched the same story so many times before especially at the near 1990s, however it was hotter and more artistic in previous movies!Speaking of which, I enjoyed the wicked, haunting, very steamy presence of (Dina Meyer).
She's hot in every possible way.
Her way of talking, looking, moving was purely electrifying.
Her intro is one of the best scenes I've ever watched in a TV work.
I will never ever forget her coquettish gaze at the elevator, with or without the camera abutting her lovely butt in that tide black dress previously for the whole first 3 minutes !
She was bigger than the little movie, better than ones preceded her in the same role such as (Sharon Stone, Linda Fiorentino, ..), and she was the only miscast one in here indeed as nobody was bright as her.
Which makes you wonder, why she's still stray in movies like this away from being a movie star in Hollywood ??
where there are many who really don't deserve such fuss, or such blockbusters, in comparison !It's too ordinary, close to poor, movie with good plot but familiar, and without too much renewal except being weaker than its likes, with ironically a lead star who was stronger than her likes !