Surveillance

Surveillance (dir. Jennifer Chambers Lynch)

* * *

Reviled by critics expecting something a little more, well, Lynchian, Surveillance has more in common with Verhoeven or Cronenberg than with her father's considerably more obtuse output. Instead, it's a darkly comic thriller with an erotic bent where every killing is a punchline and every characterization is over-the-top. Bill Pullman and Julia Ormond star as a pair of eccentric detectives looking into a series of murders by separately interviewing the people who crossed paths with the killers - including a family of four, two crooked cops, and a coked-out couple. Lynch has her eye on pure pulp entertainment here, and she delivers in spades - even when depicting scenes of intense brutality, there's a detached sense of levity to much of the film. The "twist" that seems to be required in such films is hardly a surprise, and doesn't feel meant to be. If you're looking for Lost Highway you'll find yourself disappointed, but fans of colorful, entertaining thrillers should find themselves right at home.