The Mean Season (1985) 4 of 10 stars ⭐ One actress/character can ruin a movie...

One actress\character can ruin a movie...

THE MEAN SEASON

The Mean Season

(1985) *😼 (Cat bomb: see below) 4 of 10 stars ⭐

BASIC PLOT: 

Malcolm Anderson (Kurt Russell) is a Miami crime reporter, that's begun receiving phone calls from a serial killer. Malcolm was about to move away, and start a crime free life with his nagging girlfriend, Christine Connelly (Mariel Hemingway). But before he can, he receives phone calls from the killer he's been writing about. Before he knows what's happening, he's been injected into the story, and put in danger. Can he extricate himself, before his story consumes him?

WHAT WORKS: 

*ANDY GARCIA GIVES AN AUTHENTIC PERFORMANCE Andy Garcia's portrayal of Ray Martinez, one of the cops assigned to the case is believable. He never phones in his roles, and is always a pleasure to watch.

*ANOTHER QUALITY PERFORMANCE FROM RICHARD MASUR Richard Masur's performance as Bill Nolan, Kurt Russell's pain in the ass editor, is fantastic. (He's one of my favorite character actors of the 70's & 80's) All of the ancillary characters do a great job, and are well cast, except for Mariel Hemingway.

*CONVINCING PORTRAYAL BY JOE PANTOLIANO Joe Pantoliano plays a squirrelly photographer, with questionable moral values, and he plays it well.

*CASTING WAS GREAT EXCEPT FOR MARIEL HEMINGWAY Jane Jenkins and Janet Hirshenson did a great job casting this movie. All of these quality actors were more than enough, to carry this middle of the road script. I'm sure Christine Connelly (Mariel Hemingway) was added, because some idiotic producer said, "this won't work without a woman". But it would have, and as a woman, I would rather see no women in a movie, than stereotypical nonsense. I don't know why movie executives think women won't go to a movie if there's not a love interest. This movie would have been much better without one.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: 

*MARIEL HEMINGWAY CAN'T ACT Her portal of Christine Connelly, is laughable and ruins the movie! It's offensive to put women (or anyone) in movies, just to fulfill a stereotype. In this case, Christine is a shrill, nagging shrew, who adds nothing to the story. It's not even good filler!

*THE CHARACTER OF CHRISTINE CONNELLY IS DELUSIONAL She's romantically partnered with an investigative reporter, in Miami, in the '80's, and she's surprised suddenly (after 8 years) that he works on crimes?! Has she never seen 'Miami Vice (1984)'? Has she even read his column before? This is 1985 after all, Miami in '85 was a bit of a crime pit. But no....... She's surprised by this! WTF?! REALLY? Why is she SUDDENLY offended he writes about crimes (after 8 YEARS), and if this kind of job bothered her, why would she have gotten with him to begin with? Even if she's one of those delusional women who thinks they can "change" men, don't you think she'd have given up after 8 years? Plot holes this big end up swallowing the rest of the movie, there's just no way around it.

TO RECOMMEND, OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION: 

*This movie is hard to recommend because of the Christine Connelly character (Mariel Hemingway). She creates a distracting, badly acted plot hole, that the whole movie falls into. If you can ignore her, there are still things to be enjoyed here. If you just focus on the reporter/serial killer interplay, it's a decent enough watch. If you're a super fan of Andy Garcia, Kurt Russell, or Joe Pantoliano (as I am), you might enjoy this. Without Mariel Hemingway, this would have been a middle of the road, '80's thriller. Choose at your own risk.

CLOSING NOTES: 

*CONTAINS A CAT PHOTO BOMB See if you can find him, his name is Waldo🐾🐱😸😼! 

*I HAVE NO CONNECTION TO THE FILM, or production in ANY way. This review was NOT written in ANY way by a bot. I am just an honest viewer, who wishes for more straight forward reviews, and better entertainment. Hope I helped you out.