Under Suspicion was immediately suspect in that it pretty much went straight to video, even with the high-caliber talents of Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman on board. And my suspicions were more than confirmed by this terribly executed, stagy, mono y mono misfire.

The recipe for this overcooked would-be psychological thriller is set to the backdrop of Puerto Rico during the Festival of San Sebastian. While on his way to speak at a charity dinner, Hackman, a tax attorney and local Bon Vivant (thanks to his trophy wife Monica Bellucci), is kindly requested by old acquaintance a Police Captain (Freeman), to stop by the local police station for a quick fact check related to a dead girl that Hackman had happened upon during his morning jog the day prior. It turns out that this is the second such murder of a 13 year old girl with the exact same M.O.

Hackman called the police, but a few aspects of his story don't quite add up, and Freeman and the overzealous Detective Owens overplayed with his usual ham-fisted acting ability by Thomas Jane are suspicious. Hackman plays the innocent foil of Freeman's career ambition, and of exploiting him as a trophy bust to further his standing in the department. He's supposed to be across the street delivering his important speech and becomes increasingly agitated that he's being made to jump through these ridiculous hoops, bla bla bla. But the evidence that Freeman has in his pocket is just damning enough to keep Hackman from pulling rank and bolting. Hackman is a bigger shot than Freeman but he has secrets that he can't risk having leave the room.

And so it goes throughout most of the film - this could have been a good movie had it not been directed by Stephen Hopkins, whose resume certainly made him an odd choice, and had someone who can act played the role Thomas Jane mangled. (They were going for a good cop/bad cop angle with Freeman and Jane and ended up with more of a good actor/bad actor effect.) The idea behind the film that must have been so compelling had to be the notion of putting to of our finest actors in the ring and letting them duke it out. As far as their bout is concerned neither performance really stood out as work that will be fondly remembered.

The subject matter of the film heads toward some fairly ugly pedafile stuff and murder and unhappy bitter marriages and other aspects of the nasty side of the human condition, crack whores, internet porn etc. And then after 2 hours of this 15 round stand-off you don't really find out whom is truly guilty of the crimes in question. It's an open ended finale to a clumsy and rather stilted affair.

Monica Bellucci is wonderful to look at, but she is just there to look beautiful and occasionally woebegone, but that's about it. As far as Hackman and Freeman are concerned they co-produced the film which makes it all the more mystifying as to why they were unable to give anything other than mannered, predicable performances. True they were being directed by a guy who began his career with a, installment of the Nightmare on Elm Street series and was one of the few human beings behind Lost In Space, but you would think the twin powerhouses of Gene and Morgan could have notched this baby up a bit. Can't recommend it.