A Murder of Crows (1998) Reviews

• Good performance by Berenger and some nice locations.

  Cajun-42000-08-08

  This is one of those gimmicky plotted,elegantly produced movies that can be fun to watch if you go with the flow and don't dwell too much on the implausibilities. Cuba Gooding is a lawyer who has a fit of conscientiousness and promptly gets disbarred. He travels to Key West and becomes friends with a retired Englishman who gives him the manuscript of a novel and asks for an opinion. The Englishman is found dead. Gooding decides to publish the novel as his own and then the fun begins. Gooding has an engaging personality but his acting leaves something to be desired, his name is on the credits as producer (which in Hollywood can either mean a lot or nothing at all) so we would assume that he had read the script, but it doesn't always seem that way. He sometimes seems to be acting from off stage cues with his mannerisms at variance with the mood of the scene. In one scene, for no reason at all, he looks down at floor then shuffles his feet to another position as though he has just been told he is standing in the wrong spot. The plot takes some not always credible twists and turns and we get that hackneyed scene where for no plausible reason the protagonist makes a run for it. In this case Gooding makes a surprisingly easy escape from a house swarming with cops, then of course we get the chance to visit some nicely photographed locations and to meet some quirky characters. Tom Berenger does best in the acting department as a surly cop. He also has some of the best lines. He refuses a drink at one point with a terse "I never drink. It makes me feel happy." Mainly for Berenger's performance and some nifty locations I give it 7 out of 10.

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• Fine acting and screenplay lost with poor cinematography and scoring

  mariposa_lc2005-03-04

  This film has a fabulous plot and great acting but it was filmed, scored, and cinemagraphed very poorly. Mr. Gooding is wonderful, as always and Mark Pellegrino is truly a great actor who has been greatly ignored and under-appreciated in the film industry, (though I am sure the stage adores him). This movie could have been so much more. It must not have had a large budget, because the scenes lacked the sense of suspense and drama that is achieved with good scoring and cinematography, but the acting was spectacular, especially the climatic scene with Mark near the end. Even a better musical score could have added a lot to the film. I also think the narration did little to support the plot, it took the drama and suspense from the film and made it seem a lot less serious. The plot is very dark but the film seemed to have lost that. I enjoyed this film nonetheless for its fine acting and marvelous screenplay.

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• Criminally overlooked, highly original thriller

  ODDBear2005-09-29

  Really like this film, it's criminally overlooked as far as I'm concerned. Cuba Gooding plays a lawyer who gets disbarred shortly after he lets his conscience get the better of him and he moves to Key West Florida, hoping to start a writing career. Once there, he meets and old man who happens to have written a damn fine novel. Ahhh, I don't want to reveal more, but from that point on things get very interesting. This thriller has a genuinely original plot and is very well written. The plot twist isn't easily spotted and will definitely have viewers guessing for a long time. It's fast paced and well directed by Rowdy Herrington, who's really a director to look for (made another little known James Spader flick that's very good as well). I've always like Cuba Gooding and he does a good job in the lead, proving he can well handle dramatic parts as well (if not better) than comedic ones. Tom Berenger does well, as always, in a relatively small part as a tough detective. It's a rare thing these days that a film, particularly a thriller, comes up with a really fresh and original idea and executes it well. A Murder of Crows is a suspenseful and thoroughly entertaining thriller that deserves to be better known.

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• Effective murder mystery with many convoluted plot-twists...

  dwpollar2002-04-27

  1st watched 4/27/2002 - 7 out of 10(Dir-Rowdy Herrington): Effective murder mystery with many convoluted plot-twists that are almost too much to believe, but good performances by Gooding, Berenger, and even Eric Stolz, in a somewhat minor role as far as the plot, does a good job. Without giving too much away this is basically about a lawyer who gets disbard for doing the right thing(turning in his guilty client) and then publishes a novel, which he really didn't write, about a lawyer-murderer and then is accused of the actual crimes that were mimicked from the book. That is quite enough in itself, but the story involved even more than that and is told at times from Cuba's characters perspective(which means of course that he isn't dead when it's over, but that‘s okay he‘s the star). The ending seemed a little too long and it worked too hard to make it happy for the viewer but besides that this was a well-done picture that is carried by the stars involved.

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• Great script, Good acting, Smart twist, .. One Enjoyable Movie!

  LoayOmran2001-07-31

  Rowdy Herrington, writer and director, of A Murder of Crows proves his talent with this movie. One must point out that the writing is the true star of this movie. The directing is also quite good. Cuba Gooding Jr. stars as a young talented lawyer at the begging of his promising career to fame and fortune. He is dealing with a Big Case ... one that he suddenly decides to leave .. and the result is: disaster for his career. This is just the opening of the movie. What happens next is a completely different story, that is for sure related to the opening. Lawyers start to get killed, Cuba's life might be in danger, he must discover what's going on. Will he succeed?... You are in for a tense ride, with many smart twists, that will leave you satisfied with the end result. I rented this movie, because Cuba was good in Jerry Maguire ... and now I know that Rowdy Herrington & Cuba Gooding Jr. are both quite talented. I never expected much from this movie, and what I got in return was a GOOD movie with good acting and directing and a Great Script. Recommended. 8/10

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