Word: deever
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Through it all, Darryl Deever remains the babe in the woods. His eccentricities may bring about murder and the usual spy-in-the-closet plotting, but Hurt imbues Deever with such innocence and reasonableness, that the audience never doubts his safety: the guy is blessed. Deever is the Capraesque everyman--pleasant, rational, potentially powerful and good...
Like Hitchcock, writer Tesich sees potential harm in the most innocent quirks. The background of New York City embellishes that sense of menace. Deever's preoccupation with Tony Sokolow throws him headlong into the midst of an international plot involving the murdered man, (ominously named "Mr. Long") and a group of wealthy Zionists. Unlike the innocent obsessions in Breaking Away, Deever's are misconstrued, then used as bait against him. The pace of the city brings about an urgency and neurosis which transforms even the simplest of actions, like playing with a dog, with an air of danger. Peter Yate...
TESICH AND YATES seem to have forgotten the essential ingredient for a suspense story: suspense. A few things go bump in the night, but not enough. The intrigue eventually becomes less interesting than the story of Darryl Deever and the other well-layered characters who populate Eyewitness. In one particularly amusing scene, Darryl's girlfriend (who punctuates every other word with a "you know") confesses to Darryl that she does not love him. Suddenly enlightened, they stammer at each other: "I've never loved you." "I've never loved you, either." The international intrigue can't match the smaller...
Weaver, on the other hand, seems indifferent to her role as Tony Sokolow. The spunk and verve with which she approached her character in Alien freezes this time. Unfortunately, that seems to be a problem typical of "love interests": she never becomes more than a foil for Deever...
Eyewitness is saved by some appealing characters--Deever, his father, his girlfriend. Tony Sokolow says to Deever at one point: "You just come right out and say the corniest things." Deever responds, "I meant it." With these characters, the audience believes anything--even if the meal winds up a little half-baked...