A Stranger Among Us (1992) Hollywood/Action-Drama RT: 109 minutes Rated PG-13 (language, violence, mature themes) Director: Sidney Lumet Screenplay: Robert J. Avrech Music: Jerry Bock Cinematography: Andrzej Bartkowiak Cast: Melanie Griffith, Eric Thal, Lee Richardson, Mia Sara, Tracy Pollan, John Pankow, Jamey Sheridan, David Margulies, James Gandolfini, Chris Latta, Burtt Harris, Jake Weber. Box Office: $12.2M (US)
Rating: ** ½
When A Stranger Among Us hit theaters in summer ’92, critics absolutely slammed it. I didn’t think it was all that bad. It was described as “Witness with matzos”. That’s actually pretty accurate seeing that it concerns a hardened street detective living in an insular religious community while investigating a murder. In this instance, a tough street cop goes undercover in a Hasidic community in Brooklyn to investigate the murder of a young diamond cutter. It’s a fairly standard premise, but director Sidney Lumet makes it work somewhat effectively.
That isn’t the problem with A Stranger Among Us. The problem is the horrible miscasting of Melanie Griffith (Working Girl) as the tough New York street cop. Yep, you read that right, Melanie Griffith plays a tough New York street cop. As expected, she is so NOT believable in the role. It hampers the whole movie.
Still, I was able to get around this grievous error in casting because I found the rest of A Stranger Among Us fascinating. Specifically, I’m referring to its setting in the Hasidic community. It’s a culture that I find very interesting and that’s where Lumet’s film is at its best. The crime thriller portion of the movie isn’t half bad either. The identity of the killer won’t come as much of a surprise to anybody familiar with the formula of the genre. It’s one of those movies that introduce a huge red herring to the plot as a way of detracting our attention from the most likely suspect in the gallery of major characters. You’ll know what I’m talking about when you see it.
Detective Emily Eden (Griffith) has a habit of getting into situations where she’s required to use deadly force. Her latest escapade leaves one bad guy dead and puts her partner (Sheridan, The Ice Storm) in the hospital with a severe stab wound. After the obligatory IAB (Internal Affairs Bureau) review, she’s back on the streets looking into the disappearance of a Hasidic diamond cutter. It doesn’t take Emily long to figure out that he was murdered during the commission of a robbery. Furthermore, he knew his killer. That must mean that the killer is hiding in plain sight among his people. The only way for Emily to weed out the murderer is to go undercover in the Hasidic community.
She moves in with the family of the rebbe (Richardson, Q & A) and attempts to pass herself off as a baalat tshuva (“one who has returned”). She takes a liking to his adopted son Ariel (Thal, The Puppet Masters), an extremely gifted young man who’s expected to become the next rebbe. He keeps all 613 Mitzvot (“Commandments”) and studies Kabbalah even though it’s not encouraged for men under the age of 40. He’s also waiting to meet his bashert (“soulmate”), a rebbe’s daughter from Paris. Emily also becomes friends with Lea (Sara, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), the rebbe’s daughter and the one who helps her navigate her way through a very different world. As Emily learns the many customs and rules dictating the Hasidic lifestyle, she tries to uncover the identity of the as-yet-unknown killer and gets her first break when a couple of mobsters show up asking for protection money.
Although there are a couple of well-mounted action sequences, Lumet chooses to focus on character which would have been fine if not for an unconvincing performance by Griffith. She’s a decent actress in the right role (e.g. Something Wild, Working Girl, Crazy in Alabama). A Stranger Among Us is definitely the wrong part for her. Listen to the way she talks and the sound of her voice. Does that say tough New York cop to you? I actually have a theory as to how Griffith ended up in the role. She was supposed to play the female lead in Medicine Man (same studio) and Lorraine Bracco (Goodfellas) was supposed to play the lead in Lumet’s films. The actresses walked onto the wrong sets on the first day of shooting and nobody bothered to correct their mistake. I know this is a ridiculous theory, but is it any more ludicrous than casting Griffith in A Stranger Among Us? Bracco would have been perfect in the role, but hindsight is always 20/20.
That being said, the character is well written in that screenwriter Avrech adds depth and dimension to her. Emily’s personal life is a mess. She appears to have unresolved issues with all the men in her life. She was sexually involved with her injured partner and her new partner (Pankow, To Live and Die in L.A.) won’t stop propositioning her. She starts to develop feelings for Ariel even though he cannot return her affections. She must know on some level that they can never be together, but that doesn’t stop her from imploring him to chuck away the only life he has ever known for a relationship that will never work out.
Emily isn’t very close to her own father, a retired cop and recovering alcoholic who can’t/won’t express his love for his daughter. She comes to see the rebbe as a father figure because he seems to genuinely care about this outsider. He’s a fascinating character; his own family died in the concentration camps and he adopted Ariel and Lea after their parents were killed in a car accident. He’s a very wise, compassionate and caring man who helps out those in need, like Mara (Pollan, Family Ties), a former drug addict that the murdered man took care of after finding her on the streets. Now a beloved member of the community, she’s one of the few who know Emily’s true identity.
When the movie centers on the Hasidic culture, it’s fascinating. It’s too bad that a dingbat like Griffith has to undermine what might have been a powerful film. Although I like A Stranger Among Us, I’m willing to concede that it’s not one of Lumet’s best films. Remember, this is the man who’s given us classics like Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, Prince of the City, The Verdict and Q & A. The supporting performances are all quite good, especially the late Richardson as the rebbe. Given the critical bashing this one has taken, I’m going to classify it as a guilty pleasure. I probably shouldn’t like it as much as I do, but since film is a subjective medium, I won’t apologize.
