Demme sees corruption-the potential for it and the indulgence of it-in everyone. Yet he doesn't neglect the humanity of the people in thrall to or trapped within those systems.

The results are very good - far better and funnier than most of what is being made these days.

Demme makes crystal-clear what some have suspected for quite a while: that there are few more luxurious movie pleasures than watching Michelle Pfeiffer when she's given a role worthy of her.

A despairing little parable about domestic abuse and police indifference, made even bleaker by the fact that it treats its main character’s predicament like a punch line.