Review: ‘Blind’ Aims for Steamy Romance but Hits Silliness

If Alec Baldwin has any chance of pulling off a serious movie role while he’s so identified with his exquisite “Saturday Night Live” shenanigans, he’ll need a far more sophisticated script than the one he was handed in “Blind.” The film, directed by Michael Mailer, wanted to be a steamy romance, but it ended up leaden and occasionally laughable.

Mr. Baldwin plays a blind novelist — do you need to know more? — named Bill who is a sought-after teacher but a brusque human being. Demi Moore is Suzanne, who ends up as collateral damage when her husband, Mark (Dylan McDermott), is arrested on charges related to a shady stock deal. Suzanne’s community-service sentence involves reading to cranky Blind Bill, and they instantly clash, so of course they will soon be hot and heavy for each other, especially since Suzanne has been chafing under the thumb of her domineering husband.

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If that premise is wince-inducing, so is much of the dialogue. (The story is by Diane Fisher, the screenplay by John Buffalo Mailer; both Mailers are sons of Norman.) Mr. McDermott, especially, has a lot of clichés to mouth. The acting is nuance-free, and so is the story. As for the steaminess hinted at early on, it proves to have been just a tease. No sparks or clothes fly.

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