Restraining Order
Restraining Order
| 30 April 1999 (USA)
Restraining Order Trailers

Robert Woodfield is a criminal defense attorney, and he has defended a lot of criminals, many of whom are guilty, but has maintained that everyone deserves a competent defense, which he provides whether they are guilty or not. Currently he is defending Martin Ritter, a killer, whom he gets off. Later he has dinner with a friend, and his friend tells him that he needs to talk to him about something important. He is about to leave when some masked men go to his friend and kill him, when one of the men takes off his mask; it's Martin Ritter. Now being his lawyer, Robert can't say anything about what he saw. But that doesn't stop him from investigating what his dead friend was so worried about. It seems that he has stumbled onto something big, and instead of killing him they frame his wife for murder to get him to back off. But he doesn't and both his wife and him are now in danger. And still has no idea what's going on. Will he find out before they get to him?

Reviews
Theo Robertson

Oh dear , a week after reviewing STILETTO DANCE I said I thought Eric Roberts deserved better films then along comes RESTRAINING ORDER which made me think he deserves all he gets ****** POSSIBLE SPOILERS ******On the surface this film may sound similar to I CONFESS or ABSOLUTION but whatever potential intelligence that may have been found within the premise is soon forgotten as the film becomes more and more dumb . In fact it becomes downright offensive in the way it treats its audience . A good example is the bit where the plot revolves around a video recording which is seen to be destroyed , then without any explanation whatsoever another video recording suddenly comes into possesion of the hero ! What , he made another recording ? Why wasn`t this mentioned on screen ? Or the bit where a character puts the silencer on a gun meaning he must be a villain about to commit murder - but then it`s revealed he`s a good guy who saves the hero`s wife . In that case why did he need a silencer ? So you see there`s no type of internal logic in this movie . Note to Eric Roberts : Can you change both your agent and hairdresser please ? Note to Tatjana Patitz : Stick to modeling because you`re no actress

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daddy warbucks

One has to wonder if Eric Roberts is appearing in dreck like this just to pay the rent -something anyone can be forgiven for- or whether he consciously chooses these vehicles. If it's the latter, he needs to let someone else make these decisions and stop his once-promising career from spiraling ever more downward. The plot is so preposterous as to turn this film into near-parody. Fortunately, the warning signs are manifest early on, and most viewers will mercifully change the channel before wasting much time on this. It's a truism that it's as much work to make a bad movie as a good movie, and there's not much that Hollywood turns out that doesn't have decent technical standards. But none of the crew's efforts can transcend a stinker of a story.

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jrs789

I have used IMDb countless times to query information on movies, stars and reviews. I have never commented on a movie before. I decided to register on IMDb and comment on this movie because I believe it is the worst movie I have ever seen!The plot is very poor as is the acting - in all roles! Mr Roberts seems obsessed with getting his shoulder length hair looking 'just right', rather than lending his poor character any semblance of reality.The beautiful actress that plays Eric's wife (Tatjana) would be better off concentrating on her supermodel career and giving acting a miss if this is the best she can do.Dean Stockwell's portrayal of the arch villain is comical and better suited to a comedy movie.The guy that plays the investigative journalist is another unbelievably hollow role - he looks like he would be better off selling newspapers than writing them!Even editing errors jump out all over this movie, and you don't need to pause and rewind it to find them - they are that obvious (bodies moving from shot to shot and they're supposed to be dead or at least unconscious!)This movie is almost worth renting for the laughs, only it is supposed to be a drama.I can't work out whether this movie has been made as some kind of tax dodge and is meant to return a commercial loss, because I have never seen anything quite so bad.Do yourself a favour and give it a wide berth on the video store shelf.I gave it 1 out of 10 (and that was only because IMDb doesn't permit a score of '0' which would be more appropriate!).

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scoobydoo2000ms

Eric Roberts has fast become one of my favorite actors. Not only is he talented but he is versatile. I recently saw him in "Race Against Time" in which he played somewhat of a dramatic role. Ever since I saw Roberts name attached to "Restraining Order" I wanted to see this movie because I heard of his reputation of being the best action star and I knew I was in for a real treat. What I got out of it by the end was a lot more than I was hoping for from him. He proved he has what it takes to become better than best. In "Restraining Order" he portrays a lawyer who witnesses a murder of a close friend and sees the killer. However, there is nothing he can do. He soon learns that evidence indicates that his wife may be involved. What follows is an awesome movie that combines action with drama.Dean Stockwell is up to usual tricks as he lends his support to Roberts... or does he? Anyway you cut it the whole cast works really with one another to put together a movie that is very very good.With each scene that came and went, I got more and more interested in how Roberts was going to take down the crooks. "Restraining Order" was a movie that got me involved and I'm glad it did because it lived up to my expectations.

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