Roger Ebert’s Most Painful Cinema Experience: Her Alibi Reviewed

There are those who have no qualms about abandoning a film once it becomes clear it’s not to their taste. For the rest of us, the ordeal of waiting for the credits to finally appear can feel interminable. Roger Ebert, a critic known for his dedication, rarely left a screening early. Yet, there were occasions when he must have wished he could. His profession demanded he see things through, no matter how dire the offering, and as a result, he sat through more than his fair share of cinematic misfires.

Bruce Beresford’s 1989 romantic comedy, Her Alibi, was one such ordeal. If there was any consolation for Ebert, it was that the film ran for a mere 94 minutes. Assuming he didn’t linger to scrutinise the credits, it claimed only an hour and a half of his life. Still, that was quite enough. Ebert opened his review with a telling observation:

You know a movie is in trouble when you start looking at your watch. You know it’s in bad trouble when you start shaking your watch because you think it might have stopped. Her Alibi is a movie in the second category; endless, pointless, and ridiculous, right up to the final shot.

He went on to describe the film as

desperately bankrupt of imagination and wit.

Box Office Woes and Critical Backlash

Beresford’s first release of 1989 fared poorly both critically and commercially. Her Alibi barely managed to recover its budget at the box office, was widely criticised, and even earned Paulina Porizkova a nomination for ‘Worst Actress’ at the Razzies. However, Beresford’s fortunes improved somewhat later that year. In December, his next film, Driving Miss Daisy, premiered and went on to win several Academy Awards, including ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Actress’ for Jessica Tandy, as well as ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’ and ‘Best Makeup’. The film also grossed $145 million. Despite its later reputation as one of the less deserving Oscar winners, it was a marked improvement over his earlier effort.

A Plot Lacking in Wit

Tom Selleck, accompanied by his trademark moustache, took on the role of Philip Blackwood, a mystery novelist struggling with writer’s block. In search of inspiration, Blackwood attends a murder trial and becomes convinced that Porizkova’s character is guilty. In a rather implausible turn, he invites her to stay at his home, which soon attracts the attention of the KGB. Ebert was unimpressed, remarking,

If the plot of his novel is half-witted, the plot of the movie is lame-brained.

He added,

The movie betrays its desperation by straying outside the confines of even this cookie-cutter plot for such irrelevant episodes.

One such moment involves Selleck’s character accidentally shooting himself with an arrow, a clear indication of the sort of humour the film attempts. Ebert’s assessment grew only more damning as he described the film as

filled with groaningly bad moments

and ultimately

arbitrary and senseless.

It’s little wonder he was eager to leave the auditorium and pen his withering 0.5-star review.