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

DATE: SATURDAY, June 5, 1993                   TAG: 9306050234
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: C-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

"GUILTY AS SIN" IS AN APTLY TITLED GUILTY

It's also an inventive variation of the standard "killer blonde" formula. This time out, Don Johnson is an homme fatale of murdering his rich wife, and Rebecca De Mornay is the lawyer who's representing him. Yes, it's the same premise that was used in the Madonna-Willem Dafoe dud "Body of Evidence," with the sexual roles reversed. This time, it works.

Jennifer Haines (De Mornay) isn't squeamish about defending clients who might be guilty. She's a Chicago hired gun who's good at her job. She's so good that she's attracted a fan club of one, David Greenhill (Johnson). He has been watching her work and she has noticed him. But one morning, the papers announce that the police want him for the murder of his wife. Then he shows up in Jennifer's office and asks her to defend him.

At length and against her better judgment, she agrees. Greenhill admits that he's a gigolo. He enjoys being taken care of by wealthy women. Now that his wife is gone, there's another waiting in the wings to pay his legal fees. All right, he's sleazy charmer, but he claims that he's not a killer. Initially, Jennifer is inclined to agree. Then she's not so sure and she assigns her pal Moe (Jack Warden) to investigate his background.

Yes, Larry Cohen's script is legally and logically suspect, but that doesn't matter. The characters work, particularly Greenhill. Don Johnson delivers a wonderfully screwy and funny performance. This is, without question, his best film work. And De Mornay is just as strong. They have a delightful time with an extended cat-and-mouse game. They also manage to generate some sexual tension, though it's not giving anything away to reveal that their relationship is never physical. Well, almost never.

Director Sidney Lumet ("The Verdict") handles the material with just the right mixture of seriousness and levity. While this isn't tongue-in-cheek humor, it's close. Everyone involved - even composer Howard Shore with his Hitchcockian score - seems to have understood that the movie is meant to be slick, superficial entertainment; nothing less, nothing more.

On that level, the film delivers. Judging simply by the immediate audience reactions of collective gasps, laughs and silences, "Guilty as Sin" is a genuine crowd pleaser.

Cut from the same cloth as the heavily hyped "Sliver," it's much more entertaining.