American Tragedy

Billed as "the motion picture OJ Simpson doesn't want you to see," this 3-hour made-for-TV re-hash of the Simpson trial takes viewers behind the scenes to look at the egos, bickering and in-fighting of the so-called "dream team" of defense lawyers. American Tragedy takes some dangerous liberties, intercutting actual trial footage with very similar re-enactments featuring the actors, and its self-conscious decision to never show OJ's face fully on camera is odd and unconvincing, especially since the filmmakers do a brilliant job of finding look alikes for F. Lee Bailey, Barry Scheck, Judge Ito, Marcia Clark, Chris Darden and others. Written by Norman Mailer and co-produced by Barry Levinson, this often scathing indictment of the injustice of the trial also strives too hard to convince us of what we already know: OJ was guilty and his lawyers were slime on a stick. Bitter isn't necessarily better; with a more balanced treatment, this could have been the last word: as it is, the glove somehow still just doesn't quite fit. Optional. (R. Ray)