In defense of "Desperate Hours," which a lot of people hate

Some people don't 'get' this flick. It's a quirky crime thriller by Michael Cimino that updates the book/play/movie from 1954-55 and walks the balance beam between seriousness and parody or black humor. Lindsay Crouse's amusingly over-the-top FBI chief is a good example. The two random college girls in ridiculously short shorts is another, not to mention the big lug thug in clothes covered with blood stains. What "Timmy" (Hopkins) does to a certain character at the end is yet another. Then there's the incongruous orchestral score by David Mansfield.

Keep in mind that director Michael Cimino's first movie was "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" (1974), a Tarantino flick two decades before he shot to fame with "Pulp Fiction." Like those films and "The Gauntlet" (1977), "Desperate Hours" is quasi-believable mixed with glaring exaggerations. For instance, remember the shot-to-hell house collapsing in "Gauntlet"? It's similar with this one, just a little more low-key.