SPINNING MAN

(director: Simon Kaijser; screenwriter: based on the book The Spinning Man by George Harrar/Matthew Aldrich; cinematographer: Polly Morgan; music: Jean-Paul Wall; cast: Guy Pearce (Evan Birch), Minnie Driver (Ellen Birch), Pierce Brosnan (Det. Malloy), Alexandra Shipp (Anna), Odeya Rush (Joyce Bonner), Jaime Kennedy (Ross), Clark Gregg (Paul), Eliza Pryor (Zelda), Noah Salsbury Lipson (Adam), Freya Tingley (Mary); Runtime: 100; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Keith Arnold, Ellen S. Wander; Lionsgate; 2018)

“Too cutesy of a screen adaptation.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Swedish director Simon Kaijser (“Stockholm East”/”Never Wipe Tears Without Gloves”) bases Spinning Man on the catchy novel by George Harrar of the same name and the too cutesy of a screen adaptation by Matthew Aldrich, where the womanizing protagonist may or may not be a killer.

Evan Birch (Guy Pearce) is a philandering college professor married to his long-suffering wife Ellen (Minnie Driver) and has two small kids.

A teenage student who has a crush on him, Joyce Bonner (Odeya Rush), disappears in a lake and Evan becomes the prime suspect of the hard-nosed, efficient and fair-minded Detective Mallory (Pierce Brosnan). The detective uncovers several clues that leads him to suspect Evan. The two engage in cat-and-mouse interviews. Mallory is aware that the Birch family has moved to this town a few years ago because Evan got into trouble with a coed in the previous school.

Despite strong performances from Pearce and Brosnan and some neat noir touches, the third act has too many red herrings and it concludes with nothing profound to say about the self-pitying esteemed professor that caught my attention.

REVIEWED ON 12/15/2024  GRADE: B-
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