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

DATE: SATURDAY, September 11, 1993                   TAG: 9309140061
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 9   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: BY MICHAEL H. PRICE FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ADVENTURE WEARS A LITTLE THIN

Barely more than a decade after her first major success, it has come down to this for Kathleen Turner: She wants to make serious, provocative dramas such as the recent "House of Cards," but will settle for recycling her more frivolous "Romancing the Stone" image.

"Undercover Blues," new from MGM, is vintage "cute" Turner, and that condition is pretty tough to stomach in light of her harder-earned credentials as an earnest dramatic presence. Even "V.I. Warshawsky," that nice-try tough-detective melodrama from 1990, allowed her a brainier portrayal.

With the new film, even the title is precious: Turner is Jane Blue, Dennis Quaid is Jeff Blue, and infant Michelle Schuelke is Baby Blue. The Blues "met cute," per the classic Hollywood gimmick, during what Turner recalls as "a difficult period in my life." She was about to be executed as a spy.

Now, with a marriage well established and a family just begun, the Blues have abandoned their undercover careers. That is, until their past begins to catch up and they are confronted with an assignment to put a halt to an international campaign of terrorism.

Screenwriter Ian Abrams is clearly shooting to recapture the droll charm of the "Thin Man" pictures of Old Hollywood, filtering that sensibility through the influence of another guy named Ian - Fleming, that is - the "James Bond" creator. But Quaid is no William Powell, nor even a Sean Connery, and he basically just grins his way through. Turner occasionally finds scraps of irony in her character, but only by hitting notes that the script neglects to provide.

The New Orleans scenery is pleasing, and the baby is adorable.

Undercover Blues: Playing at Salem Valley 8 and Valley View Mall 6. Rated PG-13 (language, violence, adult situations. 89 min.

by CNB