A script by Joe Eszterhas, a central character who is confident and sexy, but may also have committed a savage murder, and a major star helping to add some sparkle to enjoyably trashy pulp fare, it’s easy to see why some view Jagged Edge as a warm-up for Basic Instinct, but it’s also important to note that the two films are as different as they are similar.
Jeff Bridges plays Jack Forrester, a man accused of the vicious murder of his wife. He stands to gain everything from her death, and a lot of people know that the marriage had some problems, but he protests his innocence. Picking Teddy Barnes (Glenn Close) as his attorney, a woman who had hoped to leave criminal law behind, Forrester soon learns that his good looks and charm won’t be enough to stop the truth coming out. And the truth isn’t very nice. But it doesn’t necessarily make him a murderer.
Perhaps I have been spoiled over the years, and I have certainly been influenced by seeing many other Eszterhas scripts onscreen before this one, but Jagged Edge is a surprisingly tame and polished affair. There’s an ill-advised blurring of boundaries between attorney and client, to put it mildly, and sex is weaponized in a way that will be familiar to those who have seen any of his other films, but director Richard Marquand never dwells on the lustier moments. He prefers to always circle back to the courtroom proceedings, or investigation ongoing during the trial, as quickly as possible. Where others may have made this an erotic thriller with just enough courtroom scenes to keep things grounded, Marquand delivers a legal thriller with just enough chemistry between the leads to keep things sexually-charged.
Both Close and Bridges are excellent in their roles, the former smart and tough, the latter attractively carefree and advantageously looking like . . . Jeff Bridges, and they work equally well together and individually, although the film sticks with Close for most of the scenes not set in the courtroom. Peter Coyote is the prosecuting attorney, Thomas Krasny, and he’s a lot of fun in his role, the typically over-confident prosecutor who starts to become increasingly nervous as more and more cracks appear in the case. Last, but not least, I have to mention Robert Loggia, stealing a couple of scenes as a private detective named Sam Ransom (a role that for him nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, losing out to Don Ameche for his turn in Cocoon).
Solid entertainment from start to finish, Jagged Edge just doesn’t have anything that really lifts it up. No pun intended, it lacks a bit of edge. Even the John Barry score feels a bit more restrained than it could be, although I may again be dealing with my own bias caused by exposure to other movies of this ilk. I certainly enjoyed it while it was on though, and it felt like a title I was long overdue to check off my “watchlist”, but I doubt I will ever rush to rewatch it.
7/10
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