great director sidney lumet have bring many great police drama to life over the year . such a the marvelous serpico with al pacino . prince of the city q and a among many others . but even he can not overcome the poor performance of his sadly misplace lead lady in the already flaw a stranger among u . the problem begin with the film prosaic title . already a stranger among u seem trite and contrive . perhaps stick with the uk moniker close to eden wouldn not have sound as much like the title of a lifetime movie . griffith strike out a a police woman who go undercover in new york hissidic jewish community to solve the disappearance of a young jewelry shop keeper whom she ultimately discovers murder . from one of the opening scene when griffith assert her character a a tough talk and trigger happy cowboy and or girl in this instance and we know the plot be head for ridicule . griffith never seem to leave terrible enough alone a she come up with a new and in your face and slogan for almost every new scene and situation . then thing really take a turn for the absurd when one of the young potential rabbi turn out to be disguise hunk eric thal . and grow even more ludicrous when griffith and with the help of one the young hissidic girl ( mia sara ) get a total jewish makeover to go undercover a one of their own . her dyed blonde lock now tone down to a still tease and yet slightly more modest black . a she set out to solve the crime and the relationship between her and thal persona ariel seem a out of place a the police woman herself . for one thing and griffath and who look like she live the hard party life she have and look way too old for thal and a she do for all her leading men . and where do she get and why do she employ that god forsake marilyn monroe accent . eventually the forbidden romance come to a head and a we suffer through formulate scene where thal and griffith lament the difference between their world . and you sense that griffith just need a chance to wrap her leg around the religious student for him to flush the whole faith down the toilet . in griffith defense it be a difficult premise to make work and i can not think of one actress who could have pull it off convincingly . thal try to play it straight a the fledgling rabbi but have only his costume to work with . the whole thing play out like kind of a reverse version of the harrison ford film witness only the plot be much less imaginative and the romance can not find any foothold here . in the end lumet do not have no where near as much to work with a he do in most of his other film . and any hope of anyone take any of this nonsense seriously wast lose on the incompetence of griffith . no doubt lumet be force to cast her base on the success of box office hit like work girl . the poor old man must have be tear his hair out . anyway and the shock end isn not much of a shock and and you have probably already turn the channel by then . this one be definitely not kosher . miss it . 4 out of a possible 10 t. h .