Sea of Love

After a long hiatus from the big screen, Al Pacino returns (in somewhat subdued form, thank goodness) in this top-notch psychosexual thriller as Manhattan homicide detective Frank Keller. Middle-aged, divorced, and prone to nip at the bottle from time to time, Keller is drawn into a bizarre case, in which a serial killer is murdering men who take out ads in the personals column-the signature is a 45 playing "Sea of Love" by The Twilights left at each crime scene. Suspecting a deranged prostitute, Keller takes out a fake ad and begins meeting and interviewing ladies of the night. The operation proceeds smoothly, if uneventfully, until he meets the sultry Helen (Ellen Barkin) who rekindles his lust for life (and lust, period). Unfortunately, it begins to look as if Helen is the murderer. Novelist Richard Price (The Wanderers) has delivered a taut script with a great twist ending that will have audiences guessing and sitting on the edges of their seats up until the final frame. Highly recommended. (R. Pitman)