April 16, 1999
Web posted at: 11:47 a.m. EDT (1547 GMT)

By Reviewer Paul Clinton

(CNN) -- "Goodbye, Lover" is a convoluted comedy with a well-written script. It also features great performances by Patricia Arquette, Dermot Mulroney, Don Johnson, Mary-Louise Parker and especially Ellen DeGeneres. But it's a film that's hard to categorize or describe.

It's also more or less impossible to talk about without giving away key plot points vital to enjoying this film. Warner Brothers has made a special request of the press, asking critics "not reveal to your readers who's doing what to whom."

Director Roland Joffé throws the audience right into the action of "Goodbye, Lover" -- it feels like a story that's already in progress. First we meet Sandra Dunmore, played beautifully by Arquette. She's addicted to self-help audiotapes and the soundtrack from "The Sound Of Music."

She's also having an affair with her brother-in-law Ben, played by Johnson. He's an organist for the church they both attend, and the film opens with them getting it on during choir practice. But Ben is also in love with a co-worker, Peggy, played with great skill by Parker.

Mulroney plays Sandra's husband and Ben's brother Jake, apparently an alcoholic on a slide to nowhere. Suddenly Ben takes a high dive from a high-rise building. At the funeral the minister notes, "God has silenced his organ," which gives you an idea of the type humor here. With Ben off to the great beyond, Jake now is the sole heir to $4 million in insurance money. Or is he?

Enter DeGeneres as a hardboiled detective named Rita Pompano. She's been there, done it, gotten over it. "Newsflash," she says at one point, "the world sucks, we're all going to die. Deal with it." Rita also has everyone's number and is ready to dial.

ALSO:

Meet the screenwriter: 'Goodbye, Lover' scribe says hello to Hollywood

Her homicide-detective partner Rollins, played with comedic flair by Ray McKinnon, is a Morman version of Barney Fife. He's pretty much appalled by everyone and everything he sees, in this strange romp about a bunch of people who want it all and will stop at nothing to get it.

And those are the bare bones of this wicked and wonderful dark, dark comedy.

The first word that springs to mind with this film is "quirky." Very quirky. Joffé aptly describes it as "film gris," or gray, rather than film noir. It's complex, adult, funny. Trust no one. And nothing is what it seems.

DeGeneres doesn't appear in the film until halfway through, but she steals the show. If there's been any doubt that this woman has the talent to carry off a film career, those doubts are now at rest. It's almost worth the price of admission to see her dolled up like a Texas prom queen at the end.

If you like complex whodunits like "Deathtrap" or the type off-center comedy offered by filmmakers like the Coen brothers, "Goodbye, Lover" may be just your ticket.

"Goodbye, Lover" is rated "R" for raw language, violence and partial nudity. The film has a running time of 101 minutes.