VHS Vednesday: Conflict of Interest

CONFLICT OF INTEREST (1993). Directed by Gary Davis. Starring Christopher McDonald, Judd Nelson, and Alyssa Milano.

When an unsuccessful hit attempt on police detective Mickey Flannery (Christopher McDonald, fresh from his acclaimed supporting role in Thelma & Louise and enjoying a rare leading-man turn) results in the death of his wife, Flannery guns down the surrendering hitman and is stripped of his badge. Years later, Flannery is reinstated, and now must perform a balancing act between readjusting to the job and reconciling with his bitter teenaged son Jason (Gregory Alan Harris). Flannery's professional and personal lives are further entangled when Jason falls in with the murderous chop-shop ringleader Gideon (Judd Nelson, sporting history's most laughable muttonchops), the very target of Flannery's investigations. As if things weren't bad enough, Gideon soon decides to further complicate matters by framing Jason in a series of murders. Being a movie cop (as opposed to a real one), Flannery won't let the titular conflict of interest stop him from getting to the truth of the matter.

Cliche-ridden from start to finish, Conflict of Interest is quite possibly the perfect generic cop movie...one could imagine it being taken from the filmographies of Rainier Wolfcastle or Troy McClure on The Simpsons. As such, it's difficult to praise or condemn...it's simply there.

Who's Leaving This Off Their Resume?

Although given second billing, Alyssa Milano (playing Jason's love interest--presented as a nice, sweet girl despite her involvement in Gideon's outfit) has remarkably little screen time, and even less to do when she does appear. Which probably suited her fine, considering the material.