Jade (1995)
Directed by William Friedkin
When a prominent art dealer is found murdered, the man's death leads to an intriguing investigation steeped in sex, corruption and crime. District Attorney David Corelli gets assigned to the case and discovers that a key suspect is his ex-lover Katrina Gavin, a beautiful psychologist who has settled down with his old friend and peer. As Corelli gets deeper into the case, he uncovers dark secrets with far-reaching implications.
5 connections found
View:
5 connections, in both directions
What critics compared Jade to
A fan of the absurd and the obscene, Apatow has thrown in plenty of little treats for the audience, including a dynamite reference to the William Friedkin thriller "Jade," and, when Andy tries speed dating, a view of the world's loosest top on a woman who could use all the covering she can find.
The screenplay is filled with small but perfect one-liners (as when Andy is advised to emulate David Caruso in " Jade ").
"Be David Caruso in Jade ," advises Cal, shortly after the waxing incident.
There's a priceless speed-dating encounter (ever experienced a moment when you can't look away?) and some unconventional dating advice ("Be like David Caruso in Jade ").
As if casting themselves in the belated sequel to Losin' It, Andy's flabbergasted colleagues become the architects of a sacred quest for nooky, which variously entails locking Andy in the store overnight while porn plays on all screens, waxing his chest hair, and tutoring him in the dark art of the pickup line; stoner Jedi master Cal (Rogen) at one point intones that oft forgotten command from the Zen handbook, "Be David Caruso in Jade," a bidding that Andy grasps with an instinctual, even mystical authority.
It’s one thing to have your characters relentlessly name-check well-known Hollywood figures (“be like David Caruso in Jade ,” Seth Rogen tells Steve Carell in The 40-Year-Old Virgin ) and another to angle your cinema so far in the direction of art imitating life that it starts to feel less like a strategy and more like an obsession—one that’s yielded interestingly mixed results.
The finale shamelessly cheats the audience, echoing that of another Eszterhas disaster: Sliver.
This is a smart whodunnit with twists and turns, and actual clues if you're paying attention -- and this from the writer of "Sliver," which had so little continuity that the murderer was changed after the original ending bombed with test audiences.
As a screenwriter, Eszterhas had success in the 1980s with Flashdance and The Jagged Edge, but Basic Instinct's success was a ticket to self-indulgence, because Sliver and Jade rev up the nudity and debasement with far inferior results.
There's a foot chase between blasted-out, graffiti-covered buildings that's every bit as furious and tense as Friendkin's best car chase scenes, in The French Connection, To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) and Jade (1995).
William Friedkin (The Exorcist, The French Connection) can certainly lay claim to cultural touchstones, but this is one of his lesser works, much closer to directorial efforts such as Jade and Rules of Engagement.
As a storyteller, Friedkin has always strayed from the norm and given audiences some of the most thought-provoking and powerful films of all times including The French Connection, Sorcerer, To Live and Die in LA and Cruising as well as a few other notable projects including Rules of Engagement, Bug and the erotic thriller Jade (penned by the wacky Joe Eszterhas).
Advertisement
For Friedkin, the film is a return to form after some disappointments like " Jade ." it feels like a young man's picture, filled with edge and energy.
Regarding the director, well, it’s tough to knock the man who gave us “The Exorcist,” “Sorcerer,” and “The French Connection,” but over the last several years his output has been more like “Jade,” “Blue Chips,” and “The Rules of Engagement” — so I can be forgiven for doling out some skepticism on that end, too.