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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
Like Body Heat before it, D.O.A. demonstrates why the noir thriller deserved to be brought back--if done well. This movie, inspired by the 1949 Edmund O'Brien version, begins powerfully. A man stumbles into a police station to report a murder: his own. Writer Dexter Cornell (Dennis Quaid), an unhappy English professor at the University of Texas at Austin, has been poisoned. He has 24 hours to unveil his killer. It's a complex plot of forgotten dreams, dysfunctional relationships, and primarily bitterness. But it's so effectively directed (by Max Headroom's Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton) and so powerfully acted, it draws its audience into its puzzling and dark, hopeless world. Meg Ryan, who teamed the previous year with her now-husband Quaid in Innerspace, demonstrates her range well. The year before she played a put-upon career woman, but here she is completely credible as sweetly youthful student Sydney Fuller, who has a crush on her professor and becomes embroiled in his tragedy, while falling in love. Other excellent performances include Rob Knepper as aspiring writer-student Nicholas Lang; Charlotte Rampling as Lang's creepy, powerful mother; Jane Kaczmarek as Cornell's ex-wife, and Wonder Years voice Daniel Stern as an ambitious fellow teacher. --N.F. Mendoza
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - Interesting remake
If you haven't seen the original version you will enjoy this one. The original one has better atmosphere but this one is not to be ignored. It has a good pace and keeps the viewer interested.
Rating: - NOT AS GOOD AS THE ORIGINAL
This is a remake of the 1949 movie of the same name that was superior in every way. It goes for a Hitchcockian style of mystery but the directors are not nearly as skilled. It does have a fairly fast pace to it which lifts it to a three star rating however.
The always likable Dennis Quaid is Dexter Cornell, an English Professor and author who is generally a beaten down wretch of a man. He's a borderline alcoholic, his wife is leaving him and one of his students apparently commits ... Read More
Rating:  - excellent film
This film rocks! it has a great story,great acting and a cool tone. Im not a fan of films that tell you how it ends at the start,but this is a sly @ stylish exception.It has fine camera work and direction.quaid and ryan are dynamite.
Rating: - not exactly hitch
Although I liked this film, it's probably because I was an early teen when I saw Quaid and Ryan together in Inner Space. This remake is NOT directed well; it's perhaps the sloppiest directing job I've ever seen. Chemistry is nice between Quaid and Ryan again, but it kind of creeps you out that there's supposed to be an age difference here (I really don't agree that Meg is convincing as a 19-22 year old), and Stern is as menacing here as he is in Home Alone. The script is fairly predictable even if ... Read More
Rating:  - A Parody of the Original
Unless you've seen the 1947 original, you can't appreciate this imitative parody. In the original film an ordinary man doing his ordinary job gets into a deadly situation. The original film is more credible in its events and characters. It may have been more believable to its audience.
This colorful version, whose everyday background contrasts with the original film, lacks the same credibility. While university professors may kill (Eichorn, Kaczynski), it is too much of a fantasy in this ... Read More
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