rudolph maté film from 1950 be give a revamp for the 80 and dexter cornell ( dennis quaid ) be a university lecturer who use to have a successful writing career and but thats now go down the tube along with his marriage . the initial exposition plant the notion in the viewer mind that everybody have something against him and so when the revelation come that he have be poison and we be not that surprise and unless of course you be familiar with the original . dexter after be tell he have less than 48hrs to live and decide to trace back his step with the help of one of his student sydney fuller ( meg ryan ) and but they find they have many obstacle in their way . the film begin promisingly in black and white and a dexter stagger in the rain towards the local police station where he wish to report a murder . his own and but the huey lewis style 80 beat that accompany this scene only serve to remove any sense of tension and tell the viewer that this be go to be pretty bad and it only a question of how bad . sure enough we be soon use the old flashback medium and but now the film resort to full technicolor . there be some brief homage to noir and a the embrace couple stand in front of a venetian blind and but there really nothing here to recommend it and the performance be awful and ryan in particular do her usual dizzy blonde with a cutesy pie smile routine . the film be a lazy attempt to put some unneeded ooomph into an already fine movie premise and obviously try to cash in one the body heat audience and the seeming result be undoubtedly aim at a teen audience and to be sure and they be welcome to it . 4/10 .