Love at Large

Rudolph regularly pitches his movies somewhere between reality and unreality, which makes his work very uneven: either charming or frustratingly whimsical. Sadly, this foray into film noir territory, despite delightful moments, is mostly dispiritingly inconsequential. When Harry Dobbs (Berenger) - a PI about to break with his jealous girlfriend (Magnuson) - is asked by mysterious Miss Dolan (Archer) to keep tabs on a guy named Rick, the down-at-heel dick finds himself trailing a bigamist to a ranch, while being trailed in turn by a novice shamus, Stella (Perkins), hired by his jealous lover. Harry and Stella eventually join forces to right marital wrongs; but what they - and everyone else - really seek is love, a fleeting, indefinable emotion that Rudolph appears to be making his life's study. Because he can't decide whether his romantic comedy is also a thriller, it lacks suspense and memorable gags. If Berenger and Archer are unconvincing, the rest of the women - notably Perkins - hint at depths unexplored by the script. But hints are not enough, and unless the film's elusive, brittle mood traps you in the first few minutes, you may well find it much ado about nothing.