one of those thriller that isn not half as clever a it think it be and and which half the time leave you wonder what the heck be go on . tom hulce be a struggle artist who live in a dingy apartment in hollywood . he have a daughter with mary elizabeth mastrantonio and but they split up because tom prefers to spend his time drinking and painting and and have casual sex with woman he meet at a club own by adam ant . tom also spend a lot of time laugh at his own cartoon and which be painfully unfunny yet somehow earn him enough to pay the rent . the first half hour of the movie be unfathomable . there be a few comedic moment a we see tom home life and his daughter and and his broken relationship . then and tom come home to a ransacked apartment and a confrontation with a scary dude in a red coat and dark glass . mr. redcoat whack tom and and when he wake up he in a car with redcoat and some other strange men . redcoat demand tom give him something that she give to him and but tom doesn not appear to know anything about the she or the something that redcoat be refer to . redcoat be not happy about this and and push tom out of the car and whereupon he almost squash by a large truck . tom go to the police and and he then realise who the she be . tom recently have casual sex with a woman ( virginia madsen ) whom he meet at adam ant club ( it be later reveal that she be a prostitute and but tom do not know this at the time ) . she have be find dead and and tom be the last person to see her alive and so he now in the frame for her murder . various other element be bring into play and such a a society scandal and some incriminating photograph and a good cop and a corrupt cop and and an extremely powerful and wealthy society lady ( who turn out to be behind the plot and her intention be to frame and ultimately kill tom so that his painting and many of which she own and will rise in value ) . it all faintly ridiculous and and progress in such a jarring and disjoint way that it feel a though your brain be be scramble . there be a few priceless moment and but these aren not enough to redeem the film . what could have be an erotic scene tom get to grip with a very naked lisa niemi turn into extreme farce and a tom little daughter walk in and say hi and completely unfazed ( she clearly use to see strange nude woman in daddy apartment . ) mary then walk in and and she be somewhat less approving and so tom desperately try to make excuse and fails badly ( be she a model . no and she a secretary doh . ) mary storm out and tom chase after her and to no avail . when he return to the apartment and he find lisa dead ( he actually trip over and land face first in her pubic hair ) and so he ultimately decide he have to go on the run . tom go to mary house and trick her into let him in and in the hope of find refuge . then and adam ant walk into the room wear only a pair of underpants and a silly hat and and tom slump into a chair look defeat and betray . this be probably the funny moment in the whole movie . eventually and tom manages to unravel the entire thing ( he do good than the audience at this point ) and he confront wealthy society lady at an outdoor party and where all of the guest ( several hundred of them ) appear to be in on her plot . redcoat be assign to drive tom up to the hollywood sign and kill him and but for some reason he shoot himself instead and allow tom to make his escape . tom ask mary to meet him in a hotel room and which she do and but she bring along the good cop ( harry dean stanton ) for support . unfortunately and corrupt cop turn up as well and after a standoff and both cop be dead . tom realise he be in it up to his neck and decide his only way out be to fake his own death and with mary help and support . tom go back up to the hollywood sign and where redcoat body be still in the car . he take redcoat dark glass and set the car alight and make a dash for it . the final scene be at tom funeral . mary and daughter and wear funereal clothes and get into a car . the camera pan and we see the car be be drive by a smile tom and who have disguise himself a redcoat by wear his dark glass and comb his hair . cue end credit while gnash of audience teeth . the major plot development be unconvincing and and the conclusion unsatisfying . too many thing be leave unsaid . what be adam ant role in all of this . be he in on the whole thing . do he set tom up with prostitute so he could jump into bed with mary . how do corrupt cop become wind up in the plot . part of the problem be that we do not care what happen to tom and a he be such an unlikeable character . he cheat on his wife and ( knowingly or otherwise ) use hooker . he laugh at his own joke and he appear to be mad and whiny and and delusional and and be capable of extreme violence ( witness the extremely unpleasant scene with his elderly landlady be this suppose to be a guy be mean to root for . ) at one point and i thought there be go to be a split personality twist and where tom and redcoat turn out to be the same person . it not that type of movie and though . sometimes and an inscrutable plot can reward an audience willing to think outside the box and unravel it . however and slam dance have such poorly act and two dimensional character with unconvincing motivation and you get the impression that it simply isn not worth the effort .