Brian
(Dream On) Benben stars as a wisecracking Jewish private detective who listens
to doo-wop and still lives with his parents.
He gets hired to investigate the death of a druggie evangelist and winds
up falling in love with the head minister’s daughter (Debrah Farentino). It seems that everyone who sleeps with her
turns up dead. Will Benben be next?
Dangerous
Obsession simultaneously plays like a spoof of private eye movies and a goofy
version of an erotic thriller. It
doesn’t do either of those things particularly well, but it remains watchable
thanks to Benben’s entertaining performance.
His twitchy, wisecracking antics are reminiscent of Dustin Hoffman and
he gets most of his laughs just from reaction shots. He also has a lot of oddball quirks (like
having a slot machine mounted to the dashboard of his car) that make him
likeable.
The
plot is interesting since it features a Jewish detective investigating a Catholic
ministry. Even though he’s been hired by
the head of the church, he still is very much an unwanted outsider. It’s a unique wrinkle that you wish had been
explored a little deeper.
There’s
no telling if Dangerous Obsession would’ve been a classic private eye movie had
it decided to play things straight. It
was released by Troma and there are moments that make it definitely feel like
one of their films. All I know is that that
there are scenes here that you just won’t find in your average gumshoe flick. I mean the part where Benben is tempted into
a church by a topless femme fatale who holds him at gunpoint while a slob
menaces him with a chainsaw just has to be seen to be believed.
Chinatown
it is not, but it is certainly a lot of fun.
AKA: Mortal Sins.
AKA: Divine Obsession. AKA:
God’s Payroll.
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