Jagged Edge
Jeff Bridges has more than proven himself on enough occasions to let us know that he knows exactly what he is doing whenever he is on the screen, so much so that whenever he plays a character we are meant to dislike, he can go completely bland, aloof and so into the darkness that it easily gives us the creeps. That is certainly the case with this 1985 release (written by the legendary Joe Eszterhas and directed by Jedi Master Richard Marquand), an anomaly by his standards since this movie was made during the Heroic Pretty Boy Period of his career, the 1980s where his Starman and Tucker The Man And His Dream and other such types of happy go lucky roles for him were his normal modus operandi. Playing a Playboy Wife Killer here who had murdered his pretty spouse for her family’s money and power, Bridges’ Jack Forrester comes up with something a little bit more creative than simply placing a banana peel at the top of the stairwell or turning on the carbon monoxide into the house. He completes his business transaction by dressing up as a Scary Psycho Killer, tying down his wife who doesn’t know it’s her husband under a creepy, black translucent mask before taking out his special custom knife (movie title) to administer a painful gutting of her insides (complete with blood graffiti on the wall) and also as a bonus raping and murdering an innocent maid who happened to be in the wrong place, wrong time scenario. Bridges then goes and bonks himself on the head so that he can play Helpless Assault Victim with two dead young women laying around the house. Promoted as a quasi whodunit upon release, Bridges lets the cat out of the bag early and often, engaging in quite the act of farcical theatre as he demands (and gets) a female lawyer with whom he can engage much more intimately, and so here comes Glenn Close getting glammed up to play the big dramatic role of the lady lawyer (complete with her detective sidekick played by Robert Loggia who was somehow Oscar nominated for this despite barely being in the movie) falling under a sick love spell mostly by Bridges being very open about his extravagant lifestyle, bringing Close to his personal stables to get her warmed up while horseback riding and then some monumental sex, all to get Close so in love with him that she’ll kill to defend him at all costs. Loggia has already made out Bridges to be the killer and he tells Close this, but the love spell is also extra motivation for her to settle a score with an old adversary: Peter Coyote nearly walking away with the whole movie as the smarmy DA seeking a higher office whom we first see laughing about a previous conviction having hanged himself in prison and who had it out on an ethics breach with Close who had worked with him on the case: Coyote’s a dirty fucker and she knows it. There’s also animosity between Coyote and Bridges as Bridges in his position as a budding media mogul has stirred up a political feud between him and Coyote, with everyone seeing Coyote prosecuting Bridges to be his own little personal revenge trip over the political differences between them. Hence the joy of the film is in watching the fired up crusading lawyer Close absolutely eviscerating Coyote’s pathetically weak case against Bridges, tearing his witnesses to shreds including a retarded country club janitor (who emerges as a red herring suspect due to his awkward social behavior around female members of the club), several prostitutes and best of all a smiling dandy gigolo who stupidly admits on the stand that he had slept with the wife behind her husband’s back and even tied her up, allowing Close to implicate the gigolo for the wife’s murder and allow Bridges to clean up on his inheritance while Coyote glares at his autistic assistant (Michael Dorn a long way from Worf) for forgetting and overlooking one detail after another which allows Close to slash and burn her way through their contrived “evidence”. In other words, she plays right into Bridges’ hands, and his masterful way of playing guilty without shouting it out loud confirms him as being a true sociopath, successfully manipulating everyone around him to fine tuned perfection. The bland yet earnest attempts to be sincere resonate with Close even as he performs an emotional “breakdown” scene over his dead wife whom he had murdered all while positioned right in front of Close so that she can see it, a performance that wouldn’t fool a 5 year old but Close is just so grateful to have such a Man About Town as her new boyfriend (as compared to her ex husband who is so sickeningly milquetoast that he leaves white stains on the furniture) that she overlooks the pure fakeness of her guilty client’s overtures and instead dreams of a life where she can marry into his money and be free at last. Ironically, what trips things up is Bridges making a habit of sending “anonymous” notes to Close’s office, giving her little breadcrumbs QAnon style and he’s also sending these to her on typed paper. Left alone in his house for 5 minutes, Close stumbles across (OH NO) a typewriter, immediately reverting to terrified victim mode, telling Bridges over the phone that SHE HAS HIS TYPEWRITER which in a unique piece of storytelling quackery, compels Bridges to once again go into Scary Psycho Killer mode, looking to cut his lawyer (and her kids) up even though he had already been acquitted of the crime and Coyote’s political career was finished, hence keeping Bridges protected under double jeopardy rules which state that he can’t be tried again no matter what Close having a typewriter in her possession is supposed to mean in a case which she’s already won. But then again, Bridges’ whole entire performance was based upon him being a sick, sadistic psychopath who masqueraded as a freewheeling playboy so if Close is going to run around in public and say that he’s guilty (after she had already gotten him off), Bridges figures that it’s high time to dust off the old novelty blade and (obviously smiling through that black translucent mask) pay Close a visit so that he can cut out her insides too although maybe Close has a little surprise in store for him. And of course there is the legendary way that Bridges is revealed here, already dead and wearing such a goofy JFK type of grin that a debate literally broke out amongst moviegoers of the time over whose characters’ faces were actually revealed as being the killer (due mostly to the odd camera angle), with other candidates being the retarded janitor (obvious), Coyote (understandable), the gigolo who actually has the gall to physically threaten Close after she cuts him to pieces on the stand (expected) and even the 80 year old judge on the case with a scheming eye towards Close (absurd). The controversy grew so massive that none other than Siskel and Ebert had to go on the air and explain the whole movie to people including the fact that JEFF BRIDGES WAS THE KILLER ALL ALONG when it was obvious from a performance standpoint where he was completely unsympathetic and detached from having any real sincerity in exchange for always saying the right things at the right time. Add to this the underrated 80s actor Peter Coyote (who went on to have a long narrating voiceover career) scoring one of the biggest wins of his 80s run here and Glenn Close doing a remarkable feminist spoof in playing a crusading lady lawyer who gets bent over, turned around and then bent over again by a blood crazed Sexual Psychopath…
7/10