''Her Alibi'' is a 1989 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by

Bruce Beresford Bruce Beresford (; born 16 August 1940) is an Australian film director who has made more than 30 feature films over a 50-year career, both locally and internationally in the United States. Beresford's notable films he has directed include '' B ...

, written by Charlie Peters and starring

Tom Selleck Thomas William Selleck (; born January 29, 1945) is an American actor. His breakout role was playing private investigator Thomas Magnum in the television series '' Magnum, P.I.'' (1980–1988), for which he received five Emmy Award nominations ...

Paulina Porizkova Paulina Porizkova (born Pavlína Pořízková, ; 9 April 1965) is a Swedish model. Born in Czechoslovakia and raised in Sweden, Porizkova became the first Central European woman to appear on the cover of the ''Sports Illustrated'' swimsuit issu ...

, William Daniels, and

James Farentino James Farentino (February 24, 1938 – January 24, 2012) was an American actor. He appeared in nearly 100 television, film, and stage roles, among them '' The Final Countdown'', ''Jesus of Nazareth'', and '' Dynasty''. Career Born in Brooklyn, N ...

Plot

Phil Blackwood (Selleck) is an American mystery novelist who has fallen into a rut with predictable plots and declining sales. He is floundering attempting to write a new novel, well behind schedule, and wastes time watching trials in court, where he is known as a regular among other regular spectators. He is stunned when he sees a dazzling Romanian murder suspect named Nina (Porizkova) arraigned in the court. Instantly falling for her, he believes she cannot possibly be a murderer. To assure himself of this, he poses as a Roman Catholic priest in order to meet Nina while she is held pending her bail appearance. Finding her wearing a crucifix necklace (which would be forbidden in her communist homeland), he thinks she's innocent when she does not confess to the murder. With the help of his friend and literary agent, Sam (Daniels), Blackwood invents an alibi ("We're having an affair.") to secure her release under his custody, and he gets Sam to help. However, after Blackwood succeeds in this, Sam raises the frightening idea that she really might be a murderer, and that Blackwood might be in danger. Blackwood takes Nina to live under supervision in his house. However, he now finds himself alternatively entranced with her and terrified of her, as he finds himself wondering if she really could be a murderer. For one, she is extraordinarily proficient with throwing knives, as he found when she killed a large insect that was ''very'' close to him. Then there was the incident when she shot him with an arrow, an accident, of course. There are also the mysterious phone calls she makes that he overhears. He becomes so afraid that he decides to barricade his bedroom door, moving furniture up against his door, saying it is part of his exercise regimen. Although he is afraid at times, he is also fascinated, and cannot help himself. There are plots going on around Blackwood that he does not understand, as the real murders (operatives from Romania's

Securitate The Securitate (, Romanian for ''security'') was the popular term for the Departamentul Securității Statului (Department of State Security), the secret police agency of the Socialist Republic of Romania. Previously, before the communist regime ...

), are attempting to kidnap Nina. She, too, has her own agenda of arranging the defection of her family to America. Blackwood is stumbling through all of this, as he is inspired to write scenes involving her and his series hero, but expressing the reality of both his attraction to her and his doubts and fears about her in the storyline. Nina for her part is wondering about this man who has suddenly appeared to help her, and she has doubts about him as well. She eventually finds his manuscript in his office and reads it, and she becomes aware of his feelings and doubts. She is dismayed by his lack of faith in her, since she has begun to truly appreciate him. This is when she runs away to be at ''The Funeral of Grimaldi'', an event celebrated by clowns to celebrate the life of the famous clown Joseph Grimaldi. This is the climax to the film, when the Romanian agents attempt to grab her, Blackwood rushes to protect her, and her plans to defect all come to a head. In the afterword to this story line, Nina and her family have successfully defected, Blackwood's book (''Her Alibi'') has been published and become a great success, and Blackwood and Nina have their happily ever after. "But then, do you ''ever'' really know the person you love?" is the final message of the film.

Cast

as Phil Blackwood *

as Nina * William Daniels as Sam *

as Frank * Hurd Hatfield as Troppa *

Victor Argo Victor Argo (November 5, 1934 – April 7, 2004) was an American actor of Puerto Rican descent who usually played the part of a tough bad guy in his movies. He had a career span of forty years. He is best known for '' Mean Streets'' (1973), ...

as Auran *

Patrick Wayne Patrick John Morrison (born July 15, 1939), better known by his stage name Patrick Wayne, is an American actor. He is the second son of movie star John Wayne and his first wife, Josephine Alicia Saenz. He made over 40 films, including eleven w ...

as Gary Blackwood * Tess Harper as Sally Blackwood

Reception

The film was met with negative reviews. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

it has an approval rating of 17% based on reviews from 23 critics. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

it has a score of 24% based on reviews from 15 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Although it was Porizkova's best-known film appearance, her role as Nina in ''Her Alibi'' earned her a 1990 Golden Raspberry nomination for Worst Actress.

References

External links

* * {{Bruce Beresford 1989 films Films about writers 1980s English-language films 1980s Romanian-language films 1989 romantic comedy films Films scored by Georges Delerue Films shot in Baltimore Warner Bros. films Films directed by Bruce Beresford American romantic comedy films 1989 multilingual films American multilingual films 1980s American films