Parents' Guide to Devil in a Blue Dress

Like The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, and the other over-complicated noirs that this mimics, there is much to like in Devil in a Blue Dress and equally much to roll your eyes about. We understand Easy needs the money when he's offered a clearly not-so-kosher job. But when he agrees to do a second job for the sleazy, gun-toting Dewitt, Easy's naivete makes us question how such a dupe could have survived fighting in the war. He makes one ill-advised decision after another, long after it's clear that everyone is using him, lying to him, and setting him up for crimes he didn't commit. It makes no sense when a woman with cab fare asks him to drive her someone at four in the morning to pick up a letter. Yet he agrees to play chauffeur. Then, out of nowhere, 47 minutes into the action, he figures out every missing piece of every puzzle, anticipates where everyone will be, announces everyone's motives and strategies without any evidence whatsoever, and becomes the strategic superior of every experienced fictional sleuth from the deductive Sherlock Holmes to the little-grey-celled Hercule Poiret. Washington's appeal, magnetism, and slow-walked charisma keep us glued to the action even when it feels absurd, even when Easy behaves foolishly, even when the whole plot seems unusually dumb.

Although Don Cheadle gives an amusing performance as the trigger-happy Mouse, the plot would have worked fine without him and his inclusion sets up another reason for us to question Easy's good sense. When Mouse (Cheadle) is told not to shoot someone, even we can tell that seemingly simple assignment isn't going to turn out well. Yet Easy is shocked and annoyed to find the guy dead. "If you didn't want him killed, why did you leave him with me?" Mouse asks with impeccable reasoning, calling into question Easy's judgment yet again. In the end, for all its flaws, the movie offers something sweet and good as Easy happily surveys his house and neighbors enjoying their kids. We bask in the appreciation that wells up in him -- despite all he's been through -- of the perks of middle-class life in the post-World War II, corrupt, racist America depicted here. With the exception of this optimistic ending, the movie mostly evokes the feeling of the post-World War II black-and-white noirs that were characterized by the pessimistic dread triggered by a fear of nuclear annihilation.