Caught . Nashville Scene . 10-06-97

Caught

DIRECTED BY: Robert Young

REVIEWED: 10-06-97

It's hard to imagine that film thrillers about cuckolded husbands, bored wives, and opportunistic drifters could have anything new to say, but this one gets by on strong camp and steamy sex scenes. The husband is the easygoing, oblivious Joe (Edward James Olmos), who presides over a Brooklyn fish store (hence the title's double entendre). The wife is Betty (Maria Conchita Alonso), who hopes that Joe will accept an offer to sell his business for a million dollars. The drifter is Nick (Arie Verveen), a literally hungry man whom the couple invites to work at the fish shop and to take up residence in their house. In a scene that's been filmed a hundred times before, Nick surprises Betty in a hot shower, which leads to a torrid affair. Director Robert M. Young (The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez) renders this story as a combination of two seemingly incompatible genres: cinema-verit drama and deadpan film-noir parody. The familiarity of both is the film's chief appeal.

--Rob Nelson

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