2 Days in the Valley

Director: John Herzfeld

Stars: James Spader, Danny Aiello, Eric Stoltz, Charlize Theron, Glenne Headly, Jeff Daniels, Keith Carradine, Teri Hatcher, Marsha Mason

Year: 1996 Running Time: 105 mins Rating:

Characters and plot-lines cross and double-cross in a dark and devious crime comedy thriller set on the outskirts of Los Angeles. The intriguing ensemble cast finds James Spader and Teri Hatcher among the Hollywood high-fliers and criminal lowlifes pitched into the mix, while Charlize Theron makes a memorable early appearance as a fetching but slippery femme fatale.

Review

There's death in the air in LA's San Fernando Valley.

Hotshot skier Teri Hatcher has a vist from her ex (Peter Horton) and then two other men (James Spader, Danny Aiello) who sedate her and despatch him. Nearby, failed director Paul Mazursky contemplates suicide.

He is saved by nurse Marsha Mason, who takes him to her half-brother (Greg Cruttwell) and his browbeaten secretary (Glenne Headly) - to find them being held up by Aiello, who has survived a double-cross by Spader.

Thanks to a beautifully crafted script, this complex, quirky, satisfying Coen Brothers-style black thriller makes you care about the characters and is a winner all the way.

All the performances are exceptional, with a notable American movie debut by Cruttwell, as a repulsively self-pitying yuppie, and a striking major-film first impact from Charlize Theron.