Film Review: Scenes of the Crime (2001)

Young men were struggling financially even in “good old times” two and half decades ago, at least judging by the protagonist of Scenes of the Crime, 2001 thriller written and directed by Dominique Forma. Hard work in garage apparently isn’t enough for mechanic Lenny Burroughs (played by Jon Abrahams) to make ends meet, especially now when he plans to start a family with girlfriend Sharon (played by Mizuo Peck). To bridge the financial gap he is willing to take odd jobs by various shady characters that frequent his garage, like gangster Rick (played by Peter Greene) and not ask any questions afterwards. He might reconsider following the latest job that involves driving a van during what turns out to be kidnapping of Los Angeles gangland boss Jimmy Berg (played by Jeff Bridges). Whole affair gets complicated when Rick gets killed leaving Rick in van with Jimmy, while Rick’s underlings, led by sinister Seth (played by Noah Wyle), are willing to do anything to set their boss free.

Allegedly based on real events and produced with low budget, this thriller is surprisingly obscure, at least judging by number of prominent actors in its cast, that include not only major star Jeff Bridges, but many notable names that made career on television, like Noah Wyle and Dominic Purcell, pop culture icons like Henry Rollins or respected character actors like R. Lee Ermey and Bob Gunton. All they do a fine job, including relatively unknown Jon Abrahams in main role. French film maker Dominique Forma manages to maintain tension and create sufficient levels of suspense to make film interesting despite most of it taking place within confines of a single street. Unfortunately, it all begins to fall apart in the last thirty minutes when it becomes apparent that Forma ran out of inspiration or budget. The result is plot twist that tries to artificially stitch some sort of happy ending to rather bleak story and after which Scenes of the Crime nevertheless gives impression of being unfinished.

RATING: 4/10 (+)

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