Clint Eastwood directs John Cusack, Kevin Spacey and Lady Chablis in this true crime drama where a puff piece magazine writer stays to cover a murder trial when his flamboyant millionaire host is charged with killing his working boy.

Not as tiresome as I remember. Though as a teen I was probably expecting something a bit more Grisham and a lot less flaming when I rented the VHS. It almost doggedly does not have the thrust of an airport novel. More a Savannah hangout movie which is stolen away from the A-Listers in the second half by Lady Chablis. The Lady Chablis, also known as The Grand Empress and The Doll, was a transgender club performer who Clint gives a sympathetic and generous eye to. She plays herself and is allowed to vamp and be human as her mood and the meandering story dictates. Not that the notorious Kevin Spacey doesn’t hold the attention. He sure is a charismatic bastardo. I miss him in films and his part here is retroactively on the nose irony supreme. Bless his gropey little heart. There actually isn’t enough of him really. Both Alison Eastwood and Paul Hipp make you wanna write one of those “Where Are They Now?” letters to Empire. If this awards bait movie had captured the public’s hearts and minds a tad more in 1997 then they’d both be household names now I’d wager. But, alas, pretty much every character is queer or straight washed so it had no real currency then or has even less today. Compromised. One of Clint’s lost experiments. Did you know this has been adapted into an Off-Broadway musical? Best thing for it.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Where The Crawdad Sings (2022)

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