Jade

Back in the early 90's, David Caruso shocked TV viewers when he left the hit show NYPD Blue. He had won a Golden Globe for his work in that series. What would become of the star? Today, he is very successful as the lead in CSI: Miami, playing Detective Caine. Bewteen NYPD and CSI, the red-headed idol did a few offbeat films, including Jade.

In Jade, which is now quite dated (gee, made way back in the Middle Ages in 1995), Caruso plays the detective in charge of a murder investigation. In a setting where there were no cell phones, computers were big boxes, and cars looked primitive, Caruso has to figure out who killed a prominent millionaire (today, the films speak of billionaires...guess that's inflation!).

No spoiler, but the flirtatious and slinky Linda Fiorentino is the suspect. Did she do it? Is there a larger plot? Is the governor involved? Was someone being blackmailed? And what about Jade's husband, the sleezy lawyer, played brilliantly by Chaz Parmintieri?

Jade is a wannabe film noir that is closer to "film gris." An air of mystery pervades, and Ms Fiorentino is indeed a suggestive, seductive suspect. But by today's standards, the film does not grab us quite as it should.

Yet, I'd recommend the flick. It's a good night's entertainment. Just don't expect perfection. And....enjoy the look of some our favorite actors and actresses when they were young!