Mad Dog and Glory

Mad Dog and Glory; crime romance drama, USA, 1993; D: John McNaughton, S: Robert De Niro, Uma Thurman, Bill Murray, David Caruso, Mike Starr, Kathy Baker

Chicago. Police photographer Wayne is nicknamed "Mad Dog" because he is terribly shy and secluded. One night, while investigating a crime scene with the police, he drops at a local store and persuades a killer to release a hostage—who turns out to be Frank Milo, a mobster. After some conversation, Frank realizes Wayne is very lonely, so he sends him his employee, the blond Glory, to be his 'personal company' for a week. Wayne is at first startled and keeps her at distance, but they slowly fall in love. When Frank demands her back, Wayne fights with him and thus gives Glory her freedom.

"Mad Dog and Glory" is a low-key blend of several genres, and mostly done successfully. Essentially, objectively speaking, the movie has got it all: the screenplay by Richard Price ("Sea of Love") is wonderful and rich with juicy crime details, from the opening act where a criminal is dragging the corpse of a drug dealer at night to put him in the trunk of the car and then picks up his shoe that accidentally fell off, up to the later sequence where the protagonist Wayne is observing that scene of the crime and concludes that the blood burst about two feet away from the shooting. The main tangle, where precisely the introverted and shy police photographer Wayne finds himself in a situation in which he gets the girl Glory in his apartment at "his service" for a whole week (with rather vague and unclear prostitute connotations) is brilliant, subtly emotional, touching and grown up, while at least two moments are masterful: one is the the two-minute static scene of Wayne and Glory sitting on a couch watching television and slowly, bit by bit, getting closer, as the camera also zooms in closer towards them, all done in one take. 

The other is when Wayne is in his apartment and observes the window of his neighboring building, featuring a naked man and woman kissing and hugging. After Wayne has sex with Glory, they daringly sit near the window, naked, kissing and hugging, as the window of his neighbor is now empty—because he was never there, he was just a subconscious projection of Wayne's own desire to have someone for a romance. Despite some hard-boiled crime details, the movie has some surprisingly emotional scenes: after seeing him cheerfully singing in tune to a song at a crime scene, Mike later asks Wayne this question: "You got laid last night?" - "Mike, I don't get laid. I make love". Bill Murray is unusual in his serious role as the mobster who wants to be a comedian, Robert De Niro is refreshing as the shy and lonely Wayne, while the direction by John McNaughton is smooth and stylish. And yet, for some inexplicable reason, the movie as a whole seems somehow unfinished and unsatisfactory. And leaves a slightly indifferent impression due to an underwhelming, lukewarm third act. Why? As if there is no reason, not even in the rather miscast Uma Thurman, who is too tall for De Niro, or in the uneven ending without a clear point. It's as if you eat your favorite food and yet can't exactly taste it fully.

Grade:++