Laws of Deception

This film begins with 3 men breaking into a house at night and then proceeding to murder a man and his wife in a very sadistic manner. Immediately afterward, one of the men then turns on the other two and kills them as well before setting fire to the house and leaving. What the man doesn't realize is that a young boy has observed all of this from the stairway leading up to his room. The scene then shifts to 20 years later with a young man named "Evan Moreno" (C. Thomas Howell) studying hard to earn a law degree from the University of Miami. Yet, although his grades place him in the top of his class, things change when he meets an attractive woman named "Elise Talbot" (Amber Smith) who inadvertently distracts him from his studies. Not only that, but it also appears that Elise has a secret agenda which will eventually create difficulties for not just the two of them--but for the person who murdered his parents as well. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film had the potential to be a decent crime-drama as it had a good plot and both Amber Smith and James Russo (as "Gino Carlucci") played their roles quite well. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for C. Thomas Howell as he simply didn't fit the part. That being said, while certainly not a bad film necessarily, I wasn't terribly impressed with it and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

This movie was perfectly horrible. It was as though no one seemed to be trying to make a decent film. The writer, the actors, the director and even the production manager failed this movie.

Brian Austin Green gives the most unconvincing, disaffected performances since a young William Shatner walked the decks of the starship Enterprise. The takes used in the final cut see him pausing in the middle of his lines then momentarily looking off to the corner of his eyes, obviously searching to remember his lines. But he's not the only one. It is as though we can SEE all of the actors acting without ever having to believe that they are themselves the least bit convinced about what they are saying or doing. The dialog between the male and female leads in particular could not have been written in a less believable way, and the lines could not be delivered in a more stilted fashion.

This is the worst movie that I have seen in a long time . . . and I have seen Beenie Siegal gangsta flicks. There are low budget movies and at the bottom of that list there is this one. Actual mistakes of lighting, abound. Was there no director of photography to notice the shadows inhabiting scenes like they were characters themselves? There IS a twist at the end, but if you spend a minute's worth of analysis on the movie in total you will understand that it is not only improbable and unlikely, it undermines too much of what went on previously to be taken seriously.

At one point a pivotal character's brains are blown out in graphic detail and all I could think of was "please, lend me the gun so that I can use it on myself." Don't make the same mistake I did: good friends, avoid this clunker.

A young boy's parents are brutally murdered by the mob. Twenty years later, he becomes a geeky law student (Evan) who bumps into this beautiful co-ed (Elise) who's seriously interested in him. As their relationship grows deeper (and she becomes his fiance), he begins to slack in school. After Evan's best friend (Cal) motivates him to get back on track, Evan ends up getting hired by one of the best law firms in the States. To celebrate his achievement the guys head out to a strip joint....but one of the strippers is suprisingly familiar...it's Elise! But Elise isn't the only surprise at the strip joint...the owner of the strip joint is also a familiar face....

Elise feels that Evan can do better without her and breaks off the engagement. As time passes, Evan becomes cold and callous and focuses only on his work. As one of the best lawyers in the field, Evan ends up with a client who's accused of killing her husband. Who's that special client? Elise! Once again, they hook up...and trouble starts to surface...

Amber Smith explodes on the scene and seduces law student. After a wild one night stand, his roommate cautions him to be careful because striper girl Smith may have other motives. After the three are grown up and out of law school, her husband is murdered. She goes back to former boyfriend, now top lawyer, for help. The film goes down hill from here when the three friends are supposedly older. Their previously fair acting starts becomes terrible. The lawyer guy, former geek law student, becomes a cool arrogant pin head who takes his sunglasses off in this fonny 'i'm cool air' about 100 times everytime he enters a room - pathetic! Come on, what happened here! Give me a break! And the police guy who helps him out also has this cocky sort of dumb attitude as if just given his lines a few minutes before shooting and 'why are you bothering me' attitude. And Amber, well she has two very brief topless shots and thats about it. The movie started off good but just went on a death spiral in to never land.

This is not the best movie I've seen, yet it isn't the worst. I loved this movie because it is a mystery thriller that will keep you guessing right up to the very end of the movie, literally.

C. Thomas Howell stars as an attorney who gets sidetracked by a beautiful woman, played by Amber Smith who is in for more than love. It also stars Brian Austin Green as his best friend and turns out to have a much more important role later in the movie.

What follows is a thrill ride that will have each viewer's heart pounding and their thirst to know what will happen next. This is a movie that needs development but if you stick with it you will be pleasantly surprised as I was.