I Love a Man in Uniform (1993)

Director:

David Wellington

Writer:

David Wellington (writer)

Release Date:

24 June 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Plot:

Henry Adler lives in Ontario by himself, regularly visits his gruff and critical father, and works in a bank; he's also an actor...

Plot Keywords:

Actor | Police | City | Psychopath | Violence

Awards:

7 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Tom McCamus	...	Henry Adler
Brigitte Bako	...	Charlie Warner
Kevin Tighe	...	Frank
David Hemblen	...	Father
Alex Karzis	...	Bruce
Graham McPherson	...	Mr. Pearson
Daniel MacIvor	...	Director
Wendy Hopkins	...	Casting Director
Kirsten Kieferle	...	Anita
Paulina Gillis	...	Janet
Dana Brooks	...	Marilyn
Steve Ambrose	...	Bank Robber
Michael Hogan	...	Detective Itch
Mark Melymick	...	Lt. Edam
Cynthia Gillespie	...	Crimewave A.D

Also Known As:

A Man in Uniform

Runtime:

Spain:97 min | UK:97 min | USA:99 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Germany:16 (re-rating) (2005) | Germany:18 (original rating) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 (video premiere) | Spain:18 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Alliance Communications Corporation

Goofs:

Continuity: Henry's brand new portable police radio works without having any batteries installed.

Soundtrack:

Pigeon Camera

Overly Slick and Overdone

Overly stylish, pretentious drama detailing an actors slow decent into madness. He gets a part as a cop on a TV show, but then starts to take the part home with him. Eventually he can no longer differentiate between the role and himself.

On one hand this is a fascinating and incisive drama. It examines an ambiguous area rarely touched upon anywhere else. Namely how a actor 'becomes' his role and how he learns to turn it off. It also questions whether anyone, even a trained actor, can be someone they are not. It also touches on our overall need to become someone different. Our need to be someone who is important, powerful, and in control.

Yet the film takes this and then suffocates it with a new wave mentality and a thumping techno music score. It looks like something made by a young guy who watched too many episode of "Miami Vice". It seems just too strained and stylized. Trying to be both 'important' and trendy is phoney. The attempt at mixing 'real life' grittines with a artsy flair is annoying.

The pacing is also off. The character becomes unhinged too quickly. Then we are treated to a never ending scenario of 'will he or won't he' go completely bonkers. There's about three climaxes too many and a couple of truly unnecessary scenes. The bank robbery scene in particular seems dumb.

Star McCamus does his part well, but he also has a really big mole at the top of his forehead, which after you start to notice it, becomes, believe it or not, distracting. Bako as the female love interest is pleasant to look at and a overall sweet character. The rest of the characters though are either too dull, cliched, or corrupt to be likable or interesting.