Parents' Guide to The Two Jakes

This sequel to detective thriller classic Chinatown took years to produce, arriving almost 20 years later. Initially conceived as the second installment of an eventually abandoned trilogy, The Two Jakes suffers from being overlong, convoluted, and unable to emulate the devious, immaculate plot that powered the first film. There are some callbacks to the original movie, but these further slow things down and serve more as a distraction than providing any real continuity. Lead actor Nicholson also directs this time around. Despite being reunited with Chinatown writer Robert Towne, the duo never manage to utilize Nicholson's screen presence and Towne's ear for neo-noir dialogue into anything more than diminishing returns. The procession of femme fatales and troubled suspects feels a lot more ordinary this time around. One of those movies that's doomed to be forever judged by what it isn't, The Two Jakes is competently made, with Los Angeles' sun-drenched expanses once again contrasting with the dark nature of the events that unfold. But compared to Chinatown and other private investigator movies that have endured down the years, you'd struggle to pick it out of a line-up.