A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Paul Newman's hit piece on the press is pretty see-through in its intent. All because Newman had issues about people printing stories about him. So, what follows is a one-sided story about an incompetent reporter (Sally Field) and the press apparatus recklessly tearing into an innocent man (Paul Newman).Since the movie is as one-sided as it is, you would hope for some style from the script, but it's instead just plodding and without any style whatsoever. Field, who's shown herself as highly competent in films like "Norma Rae" inexplicably plays a complete ditz here. Newman just plays his stock Newman character.The way the story unfolds is clunky and unfocused. Throwing in a lot of mafia dealings, lots of unnecessary melodrama, and a kinda-sorta romance between the mismatched Newman and Field makes the movie thoroughly unwieldy.I've never been a fan of Dave Grusin's film scores, so his over-the-top music here again proves to be too much. Owen Roizman is a very good cinematographer, but his work can't help the movie with its issues.Sydney Pollack was always a director who was certainly the lesser of his contemporaries. Easily proving this is how much better a job Sidney Lumet did with Newman the next year with "The Verdict." And, it didn't hurt that Lumet had the great David Mamet writing the script.* (1 Out of 10 Stars)

Michael Gallagher (Paul Newman) is a upstanding liquor wholesaler in Miami. His late father was a local gangster and so is his uncle Malderone (Luther Adler). The Strike Force headed by Elliott Rosen (Bob Balaban) leaks a story to reporter Megan Carter (Sally Field) that Michael is under investigation for Longshoremen union boss Joseph Diaz's disappearance. The paper's lawyer declares that the truth is secondary as long as there is an Absence of Malice. Soon Michael is struggling with the union refusing to work for him. He has an alibi but he refuses to use it. He had accompanied Teresa Peronne (Melinda Dillon) to get an abortion in Atlanta. Megan writes about the story and Teresa commits suicide. Megan breaks down and tells Michael the source of her original story.It's an interesting take on the damage of reporting of leaks. It's great to see the news media not put on a pedestal. There is a lot of truth in this. It is normal operations for everybody today. It is the counter argument to 'All the President's Men'. It does take a few unlikely turns but it doesn't go too far. I don't really buy the entire reversal of fortunes. Director Sydney Pollack does a capable job. I do wish he brings a grittier sensibility. Also the oversexualized Sally Field feels very awkward. And in the end, the movie leaves the murder unanswered.

Absence of Malice had the potential to be a good pic about the morality of the media and being mindful of how the news is reported and who is the ones giving the information to those who report it. The movie has a great cast: Paul Newman as the son of a reputed mobster who may or may not be involved in nefarious doings. Sally Field as the gullible reporter who is unaware of the puppet strings on her back. Melinda Dillion as the friend of Paul Newman's character that ends up dead. The cast however cant do much with the material given to it. Overall the story is OK but it just does not get moving or hold any interest in the characters.

Sydney Pollack is a solid, workman-like director who doesn't like to underline key moments with ostentation, he doesn't belabor certain points--and his pictures usually move along quite freely as a result. But with "Absence of Malice", he seems to have taken a page from Alan J. Pakula's film manual--"All the President's Men", in particular--and has slowed the pacing down to a crawl. Pollack also works well with his actors, yet this time he gets nothing at all interesting from Sally Field, cast as an overeager newspaper reporter who ruins an innocent working man's life with hearsay stories about him being involved with the Mafia. Paul Newman does a bit better as the target of her slander, and Melinda Dillon is very affecting as an emotionally-frail friend of Newman's who is maligned by proxy (both were Oscar-nominated). Still, the picture is mechanical, with a quasi-romantic subplot shoehorned in which doesn't make much sense (except to soften the squabbling characters). It doesn't even have a fresh, interesting look--just the same old visual clichés--and Pollack's reluctance to cut scenes down after their drama has played out slowly wears down the audience. *1/2 from ****