Originally intended to be the sequel to "Jagged Edge", the Burt Reynolds vehicle "Physical Evidence" is just barely adequate. The veteran star, and noted author / occasional filmmaker Michael Crichton, seem to be just going through the motions. A very routine and forgettable picture, it's clumsily written, boringly handled, and saved to a degree by a solid supporting cast.Burt plays Joe Paris, a detective with a nasty temper who's currently on suspension. He makes a plausible suspect when a notorious sleazy criminal turns up dead, and it's up to the crusading public defender Jenny Hudson (Theresa Russell) to clear his name.Russell tries hard, and does look absolutely great, but she is indeed simply miscast in her role. Burt looks like he can't wait to leave the set and cash his paycheck. Burts' frequent co- star Ned Beatty has a welcome presence as the district attorney who is sure that the case is a slam dunk for him. Kay Lenz is also lovely as always, and appealing, as a mobsters' wife. Ted McGinley is appropriately odious as Jenny's smarmy yuppie boyfriend. Tom O'Brien is a convincing jerk as the obnoxious lowlife son of the murder victim. Kenneth Welsh is excellent as always as a snooty crime kingpin. And Ray Baker does what he can with an underwritten role as a cop.Somewhat slick, but too predictable, and too silly, to really work all that well.Filmed in Toronto and Boston.Five out of 10.

***SPOILERS*** Just one of the string of bombs that Burt Reynolds made in the late 1980's that dropped him from being one the top 3 Hollywood macho man, behind Stallone & Schwarzenegger, actors to the point where he was regulated to doing gust appearances, to get cash, on local TV talk shows about grooming one's mustache as well as his or her dogs & cats. In here Reynolds as the disgraced and on suspension Boston police detective Joe Paris is in hot water in being framed in the murder of one of his stoolies Jake Farley, Tom O'Brien, who's dead body ended up hanging or being grabbed by a local suicide jumper who's death plunge he interrupted. It was Farley who was found dead by Kenny Bates that prevented his attempt to jump , with a rope tied around his neck, to his death off Boston's Tobin Bridge. Already in deep trouble for punching out a police captain and with a score of police brutally charges against him it looks like an open and shut case to pin a murder charge, incredibly his first, against Paris.It's Paris' court appointed attorney Jenny Hudson, Theresa Russell, who takes his case even though Paris, in not impressed in having a woman defend him, is dead set against it. As it soon turns out Jenny does come up with a number of suspects in Farley's murder that can prove her client's innocence. As for Paris who seemed to have lost interest, in how badly the movie is going for him, in if he's found guilty or innocent yet is let out, on good behavior, on the street tracking down and working or beating up suspects as well as carrying a gun that could easily have his bail revoked. There's a number of murders on the side in the film including a star witness in Paris's defense his secret lover Deborah Quinn,Kay Lenz, and her mob connected husband Vincent,Don Grnberry,shows that the late Jake Farley's blackmailing created far more people then Paris who were out to ice him!***SPOILERS*** Confusing final with Paris, to his relief, shot and wounded as well as out of the picture and his lawyer Jenny Hudson being confronted by Farley's as well as some half dozen other people's murderer in a life and death struggle on a deserted and dark staircase. Even though the killer had no trouble at all taking care of a number of people, including 6 foot tall and 200 pounds policemen, he had far more difficulty taking care or killing the 5 foot 5 inch 120 pound Jenny Hudson who must have been practicing beside law judo and Kung Fu on the side! P.S Strange coincident in the film has the man Kenny Bates trying to kill himself by jumping off the Tobin Bridge and failed where almost a year to the date after the movie was released on January 27 1989 real life wife murderer Charles "Chuck" Stewart did-on Januaruy 4, 1990- and succeeded in him trying to avoid capture by the police!

Jagged edge was a real bad movie but this is not. Wonderful one-liners and new words like "His Gucciness" referring to your everyday yuppie, played by Mr. Darcy from "Married with Children" (Al Bundy's sidekick).I would have like to give this 10 stars to compensate for all the bad reviews given but that would not have been quite fair. It's still a solid 7 stars and that's not bad (jagged edge could maximally deserve 2 stars).The villain is also well chosen. He's rich and arrogant, like all real villains.In short: a decent movie.

I got a kick out of Reynolds saying to his attorney, "look,I've done a lot of shi%ty thing in my life, but I never killed anyone." Obviously he forgot about his career which slid down hill after he started making stupid movies like 'Cannonball Run.' Physical Evidence was originally supposed to be a sequel to 'The Jagged Edge' that Glen Close sanely rejected. The verdict is in, avoid Physical Evidence.