Our own Aussie Simon Baker-Denny as Coco's boyfriend and criminal associate brings plenty of cool to the role (a long way from the innocent young cop in E- Street) but Coco is the real stand-out. Hal can do nasty political types in his sleep, but he puts plenty of effort into this portrayal. The shot bystander turns out to have been the wife of a US senator, played by Hal Holbrook.
I thought it was quite a neat trick to set his ransom at the level of his company's kidnap insurance cover - if you don't have to bear the loss you will be more likely to agree to the kidnapper's demand. The kidnap victim, played by Greg Wise (Emma's real-life partner, apparently) is a Bill Gates-like computer billionaire, though a lot better-looking, who is totally at a loss away from his keyboard he spends most of his captivity quivering in a corner. There's Coco, a gorgeous young femme fatale (Carla Gugino) and three other offbeat young crims, a steamy, authentic New Orleans setting, a kidnap gone wrong (a bystander is shot), hints of police corruption and a tense finale. The casting of two serious British actors, Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman, as a couple of down-at-heel Southern cops is a bit weird, but it works. The plot has the usual ingredients greed, sex, betrayal and revenge but nicely blended and all proceeding at a reasonably fast pace.
Here we have a thoroughly satisfactory crime caper of the film noir variety.