Film Review: Someone to Watch Over Me (1987)

Ridley Scott is one of the most skilful and the most successful directors in Hollywood. However, many of his successes were built on good screenplays. When the screenplay is bad or subpar, it is Scott’s directorial style that makes all the film’s flaws more apparent. One of the earliest Scott’s films to feature that phenomenon is 1987 thriller Someone to Watch Over Me.

Protagonist, played by Tom Berenger, is Mike Keegan, New York policeman who lives in Queens with his wife Ellie (played by Lorraine Bracco) and young son Tommy (played by Harley Cross). He has recently been promoted to detective and assigned to 21st Precinct, which covers the upper-class area of Manhattan. One of the wealthy and sophisticated inhabitants of the area is socialite Claire Gregory (played by Mimi Rogers). While attending party organised by her friend Win Hockings (played by Mark Moses), she accidentally sees him murdered by his shady business partner Joey Venza (played by Andreas Katsulas). As a witness she gets police protection and Keegan is assigned to the task. At first, he sees nothing common with woman who lives in a world he had only imagined before, but he gradually gets romantically attracted to her, just like she becomes attracted to handsome blue-collar policeman. Their relationship, however, begins to endanger Keegan’s marriage, career and, ultimately, his life because Venza will stop at nothing to permanently silence Claire and remove anyone who stands in his way.

Someone to Watch Over Me was the Scott’s first film with contemporary setting. This, however, didn’t prevent Scott from paying great deal of attention to production design and cinematography, especially during scenes which were supposed to show luxurious lifestyle of Claire Gregory in her expensive apartment while making huge contrast with more modest living by Keegans. However, all this effort was compromised by extremely weak script by Harold Franklin whose creative efforts, apparently, didn’t get passed its “high concept” of working-class policeman falling in love with upper-class woman he was assigned to protect. After setting up this premise, the plot follows series of cliches and hardly anything in it is able to surprise reasonably seasoned viewer. That includes Keegan having the main villain set free from custody over some “legal technicality”; his partner (played by Tony DiBenedetto) hurt; being suspended by his boss (played by Jerry Orbach) and, finally, main villain deciding to make things personal and strike against Keegan’s family. While the script could have make at least some comments on the state of social stratification in 1980s America, Franklin and Scott showed little interest for it. Many of the characters are underwritten, especially Venza, whose background and proper motives for his murderous actions aren’t explored; veteran character actor Katsulas tries very hard, but he can’t fill the blanks. While Berenger looks handsome enough and Rogers classy enough to look like a romantic couple, both are served badly by script that makes Keegan into character audience will have trouble sympathise with. Bad scriptwriting can also be seen in the character of Claire’s boyfriend, played by John Rubinstein, who appears in the film without any meaningful impact on plot or other characters. Lorraine Bracco in one of her first major roles somewhat improves the general impression near the end as surprisingly tough woman, but this, probably unintended, nod to feminism comes too late to make Someone to Watch Over Me anything other than just another 1980s-style triumph of style over substance.

RATING: 4/10 (+)

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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/31650-someone-to-watch-over-me
Critic: AA