Absence of Malice (1981) Reviews

Really interesting film, dated but still good. Field and the other actors give very good performances but Newman deserved the Oscar nod he received for this performance. What an amazing actor! Definitely worth watching!
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Sally Field and Paul Newman play their parts well, but the story they play is dis-jointed. It's fun to see how the newspaper process worked 25 years ago, and strange to see chain smokers puffing away in the office, but those are not reason enough for most people to watch this film. Even politics and the press vs. the truth are a great topic - but again, not enough to recommend this film. I was disappointed, because there are so many good elements here but the story didn't knit them together very well. I get the feeling that this started as a book, and too many elements were lost in the process of editing it down to movie length. Fans of Paul Newman and Sally Field will still likely enjoy it, but more for the actors than for the story.
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This film is rather slow-paced until its last half hour. Moreover, after the credits rolled, I still wasn't sure what "the point" of the movie was--there's little information given about any of the numerous characters, yet the plot alone struggles to hold your interest. I was disappointed, since Sally Fields is usually stellar. In this film, however, she fell a bit flat. Another note: this movie hardly seemed mere "PG" material to me--it contains one vivid scene where Fields' character is assaulted, as well as some other rather disturbing material.
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