Devil in a Blue Dress

I will not unravel the story for you because that is half the fun of watching this kind of movie. Go see it.

In Devil, folks like Easy Rawlins have long since learned to roll with the racial punches. It's precisely that kind of offhand profundity that makes the movie so memorable. Franklin's picture is effortlessly wise beneath its entertaining surface.

Thanks to screenwriter and director Carl Franklin, Devil has blossomed into a compulsively watchable mystery, a redolently atmospheric period piece, and a provocative meditation on race, ambition and civics.

It is a smart, sly film imbued with the rich subtle tones of a mournful blues saxophone piece, worthy of comparisons to some of the best noir films of decades past.

The film climaxes in a gun battle that's as painfully predictable as they come and -- as he did with the movie in general -- Mouse saves the day. His departure from the screen brakes the film to a near halt.