Q & A

Directed by Sidney Lumet, Q & A follows wet-behind-the-ears assistant D.A. Al Reilly (Timothy Hutton) as he’s assigned a seemingly open-and-shut self-defense case involving an intimidating cop (Nick Nolte’s Mike Brennan) – with complications ensuing after it becomes clear that said case is hardly as clear-cut as it may have initially seemed. Filmmaker Lumet, armed with his own screenplay, delivers a deliberate yet thoroughly watchable drama that benefits from the stellar (and occasionally electrifying) efforts of its talented actors, as folks like Hutton, Armand Assante, and Luis Guzmán turn in top-notch work that goes a long way towards heightening the picture’s gritty, authentic atmosphere – although it does remain clear virtually from the word go that Nolte’s commanding (and often spellbinding) performance remains an obvious (and ongoing) highlight within the proceedings. And although the movie eventually does progress into a complicated midsection that’s sometimes difficult to follow, and there’s a rather underwhelming subplot involving Al’s former flame (Jenny Lumet, completely out of her depth here), Q & A builds towards a mostly stirring second half, in which the various pieces begin to fall into place, that’s capped off with an impressively cynical (and downbeat) finale – thus cementing the picture’s place as a slightly overlong but predominantly rewarding effort from Lumet.

*** out of ****