Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 27, 1993                   TAG: 9303270207
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: B7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CHRIS GLADDEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

`HEAR NO EVIL' UPDATES A THRILLER, LESS SUSPENSEFULLY

In "Wait Until Dark," Audrey Hepburn portrayed a blind woman who unwittingly comes into the possession of smuggled heroin and then is terrorized by the bad guys who want it back.

In "Hear No Evil," Marlee Matlin plays a deaf woman who unwittingly comes into the possession of a rare, stolen coin and is terrorized by the bad guys who want it back.

Unfortunately, this thriller is not nearly as slick or as suspenseful as the other one.

Director Robert Greenwald sets up the story with the subtlety of a cinder block.

Matlin, however, is a wonderfully expressive actress and she gives the movie what little credibility it musters.

Martin Sheen plays a corrupt police officer who is behind the robbery, and he and his henchman operate with an incredible disregard for secrecy.

Matlin plays Jillian, a physical fitness trainer. One of her clients is a journalist working on the story of the theft of the coin. As the bad cops close in, he hides it in Jillian's beeper. While he's fleeing the city, the vehicle he's driving blows up.

Ben (D.B. Sweeney) is an old friend who quickly becomes involved in the case and in Jillian's life.

The coin here is what Alfred Hitchcock called a McGuffin, something to spin the plot into motion. In this instance, it's pretty contrived, as is most of the movie. The characters without exception do things that aren't very smart to create suspense.

Greenwald uses sound - and the lack thereof - to set up situations similar to the ones that used sight and the lack of it in "Wait Until Dark." The approach here is not nearly as effective.

Matlin, however, is an engaging actress who is deaf in real life. She brings humor to her condition and fierceness and intelligence to her characters. It's too bad her talent isn't better served by the script in this case. Sweeney is adequate in his role but no real match for Matlin's vivacity and expressiveness.

"Hear No Evil" is routine movie-making at best but it has the good luck to be graced with a performance by an exceptional actress.

\ Hear No Evil:** A Twentieth Century-Fox production at Salem Valley 8 (389-0444) and Valley View (362-8219). Rated R for sexual content, nudity and violence. 95 minutes.