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![](\"https:\/\/cdn.craft.cloud\/26ed9c78-feb7-4ee6-8ddf-262fd7bafb2d\/assets\/tco\/images\/Plainclothes.jpg\")
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Lucas (Tom Blyth) meets Andrew (Russell Tovey) in a\u00a0bathroom stall, somewhere in New York state, sometime in the 1990<\/span>s. Lucas is an undercover cop, sicced regularly on this cruising spot to lure gay men into indecent exposure charges. Andrew brings his buried sexual curiosity brimming to the surface, and before this handsome stranger can incriminate himself, Lucas leaves the stall, Andrew\u2019s phone number tucked in his jacket pocket.<\/span><\/p>\n Carmen Emmi\u2019s fraught debut <\/span>Plainclothes<\/span><\/i> has the makings of a\u00a0steamy, provocative thriller, but seems disinterested in meaningfully grappling with the implications of its premise. Its protagonist is painted as a\u00a0guilt-ridden outcast surrounded by cartoon coppers whose prurient passion for pinching perverts borders on homoerotic. This is the only salient jab that <\/span>Plainclothes<\/span><\/i> takes at Lucas\u2019s predatory, hypermasculine milieu, which mostly serves as a\u00a0textural backdrop for the character\u2019s psychosexual disquietudes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Lucas\u2019s harried, anxious perspective is laced with jarring videotape inserts, evoking both surveillance footage and home videos. This formal choice is the film\u2019s strongest; it complements the frictions of Lucas\u2019s police work and his family life, aestheticizing the proverbial rock and a\u00a0hard place in one fell swoop. But Emmi\u2019s imagery is discordant, haphazard, and abject, inspiring moments of unintended comedy more often than it stumbles upon stylistic frissons. Emmi\u2019s ambitious but overwrought style would be admirable if it weren\u2019t disguising such a\u00a0pedestrian through line; <\/span>Plainclothes <\/span><\/i>is defined by overreaching in its structure and aesthetic, but the film is quick to reveal its lack of thematic ambition.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n While the central couple flirt via grating bromides that beg for actors with more convincing chemistry, Lucas bounces between domestic obligations. These competing strands all dovetail at a\u00a0fateful New Year\u2019s Party, which plays out in fragments scattered throughout the film, lugubriously lining up the pieces for an explosive confrontation. This woefully miscalculated climax would feel deflating enough if it weren\u2019t preceded by ninety minutes of flaccid angst.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nGet more Little White\u00a0Lies<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n