MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Murphy’s Fault’ Has Faults

“Murphy’s Fault” (citywide), the first film to open in 1989, is sure to rank among the year’s worst. It’s a contrived, pointless, numbskull comedy, the kind in which the spectacle of people constantly losing their tempers and destroying property passes for humor. Patrick Dollaghan stars as a hot-headed struggling writer attracted to an equally volatile policewoman (Anne Curry).

After writer-director Robert J. Smawley has run out of ideas as to how to sustain their combustible relationship, he has Dollaghan take revenge on the local police chief for his indifference to the fact that Dollaghan’s brand-new van has been stolen.

Dollaghan, Curry and Stack Pierce (as Dollaghan’s best pal) are pros, but “Murphy’s Fault” (rated PG-13, presumably for some four-letter words) is otherwise hopelessly amateurish.

‘MURPHY’S FAULT’

A Triax Entertainment Group release of an Anglo Pacific production. Executive producers David Barrett, Don L. Parker. Producers Chris Davies, Lionbel A. Ephraim. Writer-director Robert J. Smawley. Camera Rod Stewart. Film editor Simon Grimley. With Patrick Dollaghan, Anne Curry, Stack Pierce.

Running time: 1 hour, 36 minutes.

MPAA-rated: PG-13 (parents strongly cautioned; some material may be inappropriate for children under 13).