American Crime DVD Review:

American Crime begins in a way that leads the audience to believe the entire film will be shown in the context of a television show called American Crime. It looks somewhat like a mockumentary, but that format is lost by odd camera angles that don’t fit with the premise. By the end of the film the style is as unfocused as the plot, never really motivated or making a whole lot of sense, despite the odd assortment of familiar names involved.

It seems that the story revolves around a killer that videotapes his victims before he kills them. He sends the tapes in to a reporter, Jesse St. Claire played by Rachael Leigh Cook, who soon becomes one of the serial killer’s victims herself. Her cameraman and producer, played by Kip Purdue and Annabella Sciorra, join forces with the host of a crime show, which is similar to America’s Most Wanted, in order to solve the mystery.
Cary Elwes plays the television host in a performance which is difficult to understand, or just plain irritating. He seems so forced that the whole film falls to shambles each time he speaks, despite the hard attempts the rest of the cast makes to pull some realism into their roles.

What might have sounded like a good concept seems to have been distorted into something completely different, which never seems to work from the confusing beginning all the way to the anti-climactic twist ending. There is just very little that actually works in this film, despite the fact that it actually looks and sounds rather good. The crew might have been top notch, but in the end they were merely polishing a turd.

The DVD is bare, as it should be, with only trailers as a sad excuse for special features. It doesn’t matter much though, because there isn’t a whole lot that anyone with sense would want to see in the special features category. The film isn’t exactly horrible, but it is definitely forgettable, which is often worse.

Ryan Izay

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