My New Gun ** (1992, Diane Lane, James Le Gros, Stephen Collins, Tess Harper, Bill Raymond) – Classic Movie Review 8410

Writer-director Stacy Cochran’s 1992 thriller My New Gun stars Diane Lane as Debbie Bender, a thirtysomething New Jersey suburban housewife who is given a gun by her successful radiologist husband Gerald (Stephen Collins). But it is stolen by their shifty next-door neighbour Skippy (James Le Gros).

Then Debbie (Lane) is drawn into romance with Skippy (Le Gros) and danger when the lad’s father Andrew (Bill Raymond) pursues his drug-abusing county singer mother Kimmy Hayes (Tess Harper).

My New Gun is a weird and stylish Nineties American new wave film, no doubt aiming at the Twin Peaks set, but unfortunately it is not quite weird and stylish enough. Plenty happens, and entirely coherently, and yet by the end nothing seems to have happened in a most muddled way. It never gets to the final violent shootout that seems inevitable, which is brave if foolhardy, but it has got nothing to substitute it for as a climax.

This black-comedy thriller is intriguing without being compelling and is well performed for no great reward by a most capable cast. My New Gun is nearly there, but sadly that is virtually nowhere at all. It is definitely work a look, though.

Also in the cast are Bruce Altman, Maddie Corman, Patti Chambers, Stephen Pearlman and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

My New Gun is directed by Stacy Cochran, runs 95 minutes, is made by IRS Media, is released by IRS Media (1992) (US) and Feature Film Company (1994) (UK), is written by Stacy Cochran, is shot by Ed Lachman, is produced by Michael Flynn and is scored by Pat Irwin.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8410

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