D.O.A.

Touchstone continues to have the midas touch when it comes to boxoffice smashes and, surprisingly (considering the throwaway nature of most of their films), the critics in their pockets. D.O.A. is one of their better efforts. A remake of the superior 1949 thriller with Edmund O'Brien, D.O.A. is the story of a man who's been poisoned and has 48 hrs. to find his murderer. In the update, Touchstone has pulled out all the stops (i.e. sacrificed story for style--enough style to make Calvin Klein drool.) Hollywood workhorse Dennis Quaid plays the man with the upset tummy--an on-the-skids writer who teaches college on the basis of his past laurels. A baker's half-dozen of suspects are quickly introduced in the first twenty minutes, any one of whom would love to see Dex (Quaid) dead. So far, so good. But then, Quaid's real-life paramour, Meg Ryan, steps in, and the cheap one-liners they trade are enough to make the audience want to go for the Pepto Bismol. Before it's over, the plot takes more turns than Mario Andretti on a working day in Indianapolis. As entertainment, D.O.A. is hard to beat. But as a serious thriller, it's...well...d.o.a. Recommended for libraries with large fiction collections. (Provided by and available from at a substantial discount: Ingram Video, 347 Reedwood Dr., Nashville, TN 37217-2919.) [Blu-ray/DVD Review—Nov. 13, 2018—Kino Lorber, 97 min., R, DVD: $14.95, Blu-ray: $24.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and Blu-ray, 1988’s D.O.A. features a decent transfer and a DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack. Extras include two audio commentaries (one by co-director Annabel Jankel, the other by co-director Rocky Morton). Bottom line: a decent edition of a reasonably entertaining thriller remake.]