Masquerade

Directed by Bob Swaim, Masquerade follows wealthy heiress Olivia Lawrence (Meg Tilly) as she returns home after the death of her mother and is soon drawn into an illicit relationship with a local yachting captain (Rob Lowe’s Tim) – with complications (and murder) ensuing after Olivia’s alcoholic stepfather (John Glover’s Tony) begins plotting Olivia’s demise. It’s decidedly familiar territory that’s employed to mostly compelling effect by Swaim, as the filmmaker, working from Dick Wolf’s screenplay, delivers a deliberately-paced yet watchable mystery that benefits substantially from its engaging performances and proliferation of admittedly unexpected twists – with, in terms of the latter, the picture progressing into an appreciatively ludicrous second half rife with double crosses and surprise deaths. (The over-the-top finale is especially satisfying, no doubt.) There’s little doubt, then, that Masquerade‘s few missteps, including a handful of lulls within its midsection, are fairly easy to accept and overlook, which ultimately does confirm its place as a better-than-average romantic thriller (albeit one that demands a considerable amount of leeway from the viewer as far as suspension of disbelief goes).

*** out of ****