ABOVE SUSPICION (2021)

Name: ABOVE SUSPICION (2021)
Item: ABOVE SUSPICION (2021)
Author: Tess Farrand

"Nasty People in a Nasty Story"

Content: -4 Intentional blasphemy, evil, gross immorality, and/or worldview problems. (To be avoided)

Entertainment Quality:

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Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity
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What You Need To Know:

Based on a true story, ABOVE SUSPICION tells the tale of a rural Kentucky woman who seduces an FBI agent into an adulterous affair while helping him bring down a drug dealer, her husband. Susan is a drug-addicted, broke mother of two young children who’s trapped living in the same house with her estranged husband, Cash, who’s involved in a drug-dealing ring. Set in the early 1980s, and a FBI agent named Mark arrives in town looking to bust drug rings. He teams up with Susan as an informant, and they start a steamy affair. Mark starts to realize Susan may be dangerously unstable.

The technical aspects in ABOVE SUSPICION are well-done. However, Jack Huston is embarrassingly bad as the FBI agent. That isn’t true of his co-stars, though. The movie’s biggest problem is that there’s literally no one worth rooting for in the movie. The wife is sympathetic at first but proves to be despicable herself. ABOVE SUSPICION has a strong pagan worldview, a depressing ending, lots of strong foul language, disturbing violence, rampant drug abuse, and a story promoting adultery.

Content:

(PaPaPa, B, LLL, VVV, SS, N, AA, DDD, MMM):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Very strong pagan worldview with despicable characters and a depressing ending, with some light moral elements

Foul Language:

At least 42 obscenities (at least 20 “f” words), 10 GDs, five Jesus profanities

Violence:

Two vicious beating scenes of a woman, including stomping and kicking her, and woman is eventually punched and choked to death, with her neck being broken, plus two quick shootout scenes

Sex:

Adulterous affair depicted alluringly, with lots of clothed movement in both standing and horizontal positions, plus a lengthy scene of oral sex, while the female narrator speaks about her adulterous affair in bragging tones, and when a mistress reveals she’s pregnant, man asks if she’s considered an abortion, but she doesn’t answer

Nudity:

Male shirtless in bed after adulterous sex

Alcohol Use:

Several scenes of intoxicated people drinking alcohol in a bar

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

Two quick scenes of smoking cigarettes, and drug dealing and snorting cocaine throughout the movie; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Dishonesty, lying and cheating abound throughout the deeply cynical and unpleasant movie.

More Detail:

Based on a true story, ABOVE SUSPICION tells the tale of a rural Kentucky woman who seduces an FBI agent into an adulterous affair while helping him bring down a drug dealer, her husband, and the many things that go wrong. Released after sitting five years on the shelf, it is painfully obvious why no one was rushing to release ABOVE SUSPICION, as it’s a deeply unpleasant, abhorrent, flat movie with no redeeming characters while maintaining a strong pagan worldview with a depressing ending, lots of strong foul language, disturbing violence, rampant drug abuse, and a story promoting adultery.

The movie is narrated by Susan (Emilia Clarke of GAME OF THRONES), a drug-addicted and broke mother of two young children who’s trapped living in the same house with her estranged husband, Cash (Johnny Knoxville of the JACKASS movies), who’s involved in a drug-dealing ring in rural Kentucky. The time is the early 1980s, and a new FBI agent named Mark (Jack Huston of BOARDWALK EMPIRE) comes to town looking to bust drug rings and quickly teams up with Susan as an informant.

Although he initially resists her, Mark eventually starts an intense adulterous affair with Susan that’s depicted in several lengthy scenes, although the actors remain clothed. As he falls ever further into this morally compromised situation while tightening the noose on the drug ring, Mark starts to realize Susan may be dangerously unstable. Can he get through this moral crisis?

The technical aspects in ABOVE SUSPICION are well-done. Emilia Clarke delivers a strong performance as the woman. Also, Johnny Knoxville of JACKASS fame delivers strongly as well as the husband. He offers up a greasy sense of menace throughout the movie. However, Jack Huston is almost embarrassingly bad as the FBI agent.

The biggest problem of ABOVE SUSPICION is that there is literally no one worth rooting for in the movie. Mark is a selfish cheater who never truly feels remorse about his actions. Also, while viewers are asked to sympathize with Susan at first since she’s the narrator, as she unravels, she proves to be a fairly despicable person herself.

There is grimly portrayed drug use throughout ABOVE SUSPICION, and two brutal beatings of Susan at two key points leave her bloody and broken. The movie’s final resolution of the affair is disturbingly violent as well. ABOVE SUSPICION also has a profusion of strong foul language and promotes adultery, making it seem alluring.

Add in a flat tone throughout the proceedings, and ABOVE SUSPICION comes off as an R-rated movie version of a cheap women-in-peril TV movie. ABOVE SUSPICION is beneath contempt, both artistically and morally.

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What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.