Jonathon Trent's alternately charismatic and monstrous Cunanan is convincingly the ultimate hustler from hell, and James C. Burns as a shrewd, seasoned FBI agent whose insight is tragically dismissed also stands out. Back story on Cunanan is scant; the filmmakers focus on depicting the FBI as incompetent and homophobic.
Ron Satlof's "Misconceptions" is a polished comedy with a dauntingly improbable premise. A.J. Cook's Miranda Bliss is a devout small-town Georgia Christian whose small son died five years earlier of a rare disease, and her husband (David Sutcliffe) remains too grief-stricken to want to father another child.
When Miranda learns that a Boston doctor (David Moscow) is intensively seeking a cure for the disease that killed her son, she believes through prayer God is telling her to become a surrogate mother for the doctor and his choreographer husband (Orlando Jones, who has a terrific comic flair), who so desperately want a child.
Satlof's familiar point is to show that the more religious conservatives get to know gays the less they tend to demonize them, but "Misconceptions" is too outlandish and contrived to satisfy.
-- Kevin Thomas "Watercolors." MPAA rating: Unrated. Running time: 1 hour, 54 minutes. "Murder in Fashion." MPAA rating: R for violence, language, some sexual content and drug use. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes. "Misconceptions." MPAA rating: Unrated. Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes. All at the Sunset 5, West Hollywood.
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