porfle

One of the worst of the made-for-TV westerns, this cheap-looking production features slapdash direction (by the unremarkable Andrew V. McLaglen of THE UNDEFEATED fame), an often silly script, and poor production design. Not only that, but it's all dragged down by Jerrold Immel's horrendous score, which is one of the worst examples of "Mickey Mouse-ing" I've ever heard. An excellent cast, several of whom appeared in the earlier and more successful TV-movie THE SACKETTS (in which Immel's music was slightly better but still pretty awful) is woefully wasted here. I wanted to like this movie but found it very disappointing.

I saw this when it was first released, in a theater filled to the gills with rabid Jerry Lewis fans (of which I am one) who were all ecstatic to be seeing a new Jerry Lewis movie after all those years. The opening montage of scenes from his earlier films was greeted with cheers, and this giddy enthusiasm carried over for the rest of the film. (The donut scene was a particular favorite--everybody there totally "got" it.) Good spirits and joyous Jerry Lewis fandom abounded in that theater that night, and I had a wonderful time.

Whenever I see this movie now, I recall the feelings I had when I first saw it that night. Maybe you had to see it in that context and that frame of mind to truly enjoy it. Anyway, I'm still a huge Jerry Lewis fan as I have been all my life, and I enjoy all of his movies from the highs of THE NUTTY PROFESSOR and THE LADIES MAN to the lows of WHICH WAY TO THE FRONT? and HOOK, LINE, AND SINKER. Now if I could just see THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED, my life would be complete.

I got to see an advance screener of THE RIDDLE before I knew anything about it, so I didn't have any preconceptions going in. As such, it struck me as an intriguing murder mystery that was well-written and well-acted.

Vinnie Jones is one of my favorite actors now--I was already a fan after seeing JOHNNY WAS, and he gives another likable performance in this movie. I think it helps that I never knew him as a sports star and thus had no preconceptions about him. The rest of the cast, including Derek Jacobi, Julie Cox, Vera Day, Mel Smith, and Jason Flemyng, plus Vanessa Redgrave in a small role, are very good.

It's unfortunate that the way THE RIDDLE was released and the fact that it garnered a high score on IMDb early on seems to have elicited such an over-the-top reaction against it. Of course, not everyone is going to like it and some valid criticisms have been expressed, but much of the negativity sounds unreasonably caustic and at times silly.

This is a low-budget independent film by a first-time director, so one can't expect a Hollywood blockbuster. But if you accept the fact that it's low-key and deliberately paced, THE RIDDLE can be a very rewarding and entertaining film.

P.S. Some have pointed out that several of the more positive reviews are from first-timers with no other posting history on IMDb. But if you'll check the most overtly negative reviews, you'll find that, so far anyway, the same can be said for the majority of them as well.