Flinch (1994) Online

The aspiring actress Daphne (Gina Gershon) and the aspiring lawyer Harry Mirapolsky (Judd Nelson) work in a department store window as live mannequins to survive. Daphne is financially supported by her boyfriend William (Andrew Airlie) that neglects her, and Harry that failed three times in the examination to the Bar Association has a non-requited crush on her. One night, the unfaithful William blew Daphne off and she breaks with him. Harry invites her to go to the store to spend the night partying. They accidentally witness the artist Miles Raymond (Nick Mancuso) killing his model in his car and they go to the police to report the murder. They are attended by Detective "Bat" Fowler (Frank Cassini) that studied with Harry and he does not believe on them. He conducts a superficial investigation and does not arrest Miles. Daphne and Harry decide to quit their job and she moves to his apartment. Meanwhile Miles mistakenly kills Daphne's replacement in the window. Soon they discover that the killer is hunting them down and they need to so something to protect themselves.

"Flinch" is an effective low-budget thriller, with good story and chemistry between Gina Gershon and Judd Nelson. There are many flaws in the story, and maybe the worst is when Daphne unlocks the door of the department store and leaves it open. Why a wife would stay with a killer is also unexplained. Nick Mancuso has a ham performance with grimace in the role of a psychopath. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Vitrine da Morte" ("Window of the Death")

Gina Gershon and Judd Nelson star in this underrated excellent film. Daphne (Gina Gershon) and Harry (Judd Nelson) have a very boring job, filling in for mannequins at a clothing store. One night they decide to have fun and watch what people are doing at night and what they see is a man strangle a woman to death in his car. Unsure of what to do, they turn to the cops but don't get any help there. Soon the killer is after them and they have to escape before they are his next victims. This film is very well done and the performances are terrific. Anyone looking for a good film I recommend this one.

I loved this movie and I would definitely recommend others watch it.

It's one of those movies they put on tv late at night and you start watching it for something to do but then end up hooked.

There was no way I could turn off the tv and not see the end of this thriller. It has it all romance, intrigue and humor. Trust me you wont be sorry that you spent time watching this but just remember don't FLINCH!!! :)

I have loved this movie for years. Tho I'd not seen it since about 1997, I finally just watched it again. And of course I still love it. Gina Gershon is such an awesome actress. I love her character in this movie. Judd Nelson is really good in this too.

The first half of this movie is my favorite part...not that I dislike the second half...I just think the parts where Judd and Gina play mannequins are really good. Just the chemistry between Gina and Judd is amazing. I couldn't have imagined any other actors to play those parts.

I highly recommend this movie. Too bad it wasn't a well-known movie cuz it really deserved some recognition.

Intended as light entertainment, this film is indeed successful as such during its first half, but then succumbs to a rapidly foundering script that drops it down. Harry (Judd Nelson), a "reformed" burglar, and Daphne (Gina Gershon), an aspiring actress, are employed as live window mannequins at a department store where one evening they are late in leaving and are locked within, whereupon they witness, from their less than protective glass observation point, an apparent homicide occurring on the street. The ostensible murderer, Miles Raymond (Nick Mancuso), a local sculptor, returns the following day to observe the mannequins since he realizes that they are the only possible witnesses to the prior night's violent event and, when one of the posing pair "flinches", the fun begins. Daphne and Harry report their observations at a local police station, but when the detective taking a crime report remembers Harry's criminal background, he becomes cynical. There are a great many ways in which a film can become hackneyed, and this one manages to utilize most of them, including an obligatory slow motion bedroom scene of passion. A low budget affair shot in Vancouver, even police procedural aspects are displayed by rote. The always capable Gershon tries to make something of her role, but Mancuso is incredibly histrionic, bizarrely so, as he attacks his lines with an obvious loose rein. Although the film sags into nonsense, cinematographer Glen MacPherson prefers to not follow suit, as he sets up with camera and lighting some splendidly realised compositions that a viewer may focus upon while ignoring plot holes and witless dialogue. A well-crafted score, appropriately based upon the action, is contributed by Hal Beckett. The mentioned dialogue is initially somewhat fresh and delivered well in a bantering manner by Nelson and Gershon, but in a subsequent context of flawed continuity and logic, predictability takes over. The direction reflects a lack of original ideas or point of view, and post-production flaws set the work back farther than should be expected for a basic thriller.

It must be getting hard to come up with fresh ideas for some nut case to be chasing around after someone. It's a pretty basic formula after all. He or she wants to kill you for some logical or illogical reason or another, right? There isn't a whole lot of room for originality. In the case of Flinch, you have two people who know the identity of the killer and he in turn knows they know he killed someone. What a zinger!

Did I mention the two people trying to evade the demented killer are live floor window models for a department store played by none other than Judd Nelson and Gina Gershon? Talk about a dynamic duo. Thankfully they work really well together on screen. That leaves Nick Mancuso to be the obsessed artist/killer who owns an art studio called Torso's and if you're as smart as I think you are you can probably guess why it's called Torso's. His turn as the baddie is the kind you seen so many times before, he's done so many times before.

Naturally, the story rolls out in predictable, made-for-TV fashion. There's no surprises, no real flair, and an abundance of stock characters that would feel right at home in a sit-com. It does what it has to do to be watchable but not a smidgen more. It's not a movie you talk about, set aside time or money for. You catch it late night and maybe you watch it out of boredom. You know the routine. If only for Judd Nelson and Gina Gershon's on screen chemistry.

I gave this a 7 just because of Gina Gershon.

My gosh, I can't get over her. She is awesome in every role she plays...even if the film is total crap.

This movie levels on borderline crap, but is saved because of Gina Gershon and me.

Yes, I have a small role in it too...you have to find out where, but overall, even with Gina's and my performances; it's still bad.

If it's a rainy day and you have some time to watch...then go ahead...there could be worse movies.

That's pretty much it. It just survives being watch-less, but not by much.

The dialogue is painful, the plot is sort of melodramatic and Judd Nelson's monotone loses its charm after the tenth second. But Nick Mancuso and Gina Gershon have wonderful exchanges at the end, and their acting separately is nothing short of magical despite the junk all around them. He is quite the subtle antagonist, and she builds layers of the character without seeming obvious. It's worth watching just for Gina and Nick, if you're the sort to watch a movie for the style of acting.

Reasonably entertaining time-waster. Nelson and Gershon play live store-window dummies who witness a murder. The murderer doesn't realize at first that he'd been spotted. It's a plot that had been used before in City That Never Sleeps (1953), although this is not a remake. There are some plot problems, I think, as when towards the end when the killer gets into a locked, alarmed building without problems. The movie lacks anything particularly exceptional; the cinematography, editing, dialogue, etc. all work but don't stand out in any way.

They wanted to make a movie about witnesses to a murder, some chases, a stupid cop, some sex, with the Hollywood ending. A plausible story with a flowing plot? Forget that. The characters had no reason for any of their behavior, the evil guy is far from diabolical, and the ending was just plain stupid.

The acting was horrible, but then, they didn't have much to work with. Judd Nelson's character was especially unbelievable. He's failed the bar exam so he can't be a lawyer, but come on, a law school graduate can't get a better job than a living mannequin?

The curse of insomnia is that there's absolutely nothing good on TV.