Pay attention to this one, it's got a lot to say. It's film noir and social criticism mixed in one. In fact, this film was probably the (unacknowledged) inspiration for the entire 'X-Files' series (which I hate), and there are a hell of a lot of similarities between them. The spooky, dark atmosphere of dread is very much the same though much more effective here. Duchovney's character--a liberal writer--does everything he can to accomodate and relate to the Pitt character (Early) and still ends up in deep trouble. The characters are all realistic and almost everything that happens is believable (as opposed to 'Blood Simple' where to achieve a few sick laughs you're asked to suspend disbelief). Pitt's performance is effective on its face as well as hilariously camp simply because of the huge star he has become since (his tongue-in-the-nudie-picture scene in the unrated version is funnier than hell). But all that's okay, for the film as a whole works on many levels and can withstand more than a few unintentional laughs to go with the intentional ones. The most touching scene is the final one, when the tape recording of Adele confessing her loneliness and deep need to be accepted humanizes her tragically and emphasizes the contrast between her (who never really had a chance) and these two yuppies (Duchovney and Forbes) who shared a portion of her tragic journey. Even after a first hand experience of true evil has tempered his liberalism and made him kill to save his life, he will have to hold on to a large portion of his original theory simply because of the overwhelming pathos generated by that final tape message.
Review of Kalifornia
