A bungled whodunit that had good potential but was poorly executed by director John Dahl. He relies too much on cliched gimmicks (mainly "shocking" illusions and dreams), and his plodding pacing only induces impatience on the viewer's part, which is the last thing a good mystery needs. But this isn't a good mystery anyway; the villain's identity is way too easy to guess (if you think about it afterwards, you'll realize that the plot follows practically the ONLY possible path to make the resolution "surprising", although it's far from that.) Ray Liotta is not particularly good here, but Linda Fiorentino, unexpectedly sweet, at least wins our sympathy. (**)