Line #10 Film/HerAlibi


1	[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/her_alibi_1989.jpeg]]
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4	A 1989 American romantic comedy/mystery film, directed by Creator/BruceBeresford and starring Creator/TomSelleck and Creator/PaulinaPorizkova. The supporting cast includes Creator/WilliamDaniels, Creator/JamesFarentino, Creator/VictorArgo, Creator/HurdHatfield, Creator/PatrickWayne and Creator/TessHarper.
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6	Phillip Blackwood (Selleck) is an author of detective novels who, after a four-year bout of writer's block, is desperately seeking new material around the local courtrooms. There he encounters Nina (Porizkova), an enchanting young Romanian woman who's been accused of murder. Inspired by her and believing her to be innocent, he offers to provide her with an alibi. As he spends time with her, however, he's forced to question whether she truly is innocent... and whether he may be next on her list.
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8	----
9	!!This film provides examples of:
10	* TheAce: How Blackwood wrote Swift to be.
11	* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents / DysfunctionalFamily: Blackwood's.
12	* AnnoyingArrows: Blackwood is shot in the ass by Nina. Although treated more seriously than some fiction, it's more of an AmusingInjury than anything and he's fully recovered the next day.
13	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Done in writing form.
14	-->"Swift's mastery of Tai Kwon Do, Akido, boxing, and macreme had him in good stead."
15	* CowboyCop: Frank Polito.
16	* DeadpanSnarker: Blackwood.
17	* DeconstructiveParody: Of some pulp fiction heroes.
18	* DefectorFromCommieLand: Nina and her family.
19	* DevelopmentHell (InUniverse): Blackwood's novel at movie open.
20	* DrivesLikeCrazy: Nina.
21	-->'''Blackwood''': I though you said you drove in Romania!?
22	-->'''Nina''': This ''is'' how we drive in Romania!
23	* EthnicMenialLabor: Consuela, Blackwood's occasional maid.
24	* ExactEavesdropping: Blackwood not only catches the important part of Nina's phone call, but chooses to look up the one word that helps him crack the mystery, "funeral".
25	* HerCodeNameWasMarySue: Blackwood's fictional detective Peter Swift.
26	* IReadItForTheArticles: The Securitate agent, when caught photographing Blackwood's Playboys, says "Good interview!" to cover.
27	* InnocentInnuendo: When shot in the ass by a bow while talking to Detective Polito, who mistakes his moans and cries "not to touch the shaft" as, shall we say, passion.
28	* TheKlutz: Blackwood.
29	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: The end shows Phillip's book is the name of the movie, and a major motion picture starring the film's actors.
30	* MistakenForMurderer
31	* MonsterClown: Blackwood's nightmare about Nina.
32	* MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels: Blackwood's grasp of Romanian is a bit tenuous.
33	-->'''Nina''': You just said your mother is an octopus.
34	** Nina has a couple of issues with English, like when she describes a man who was punished by being hanged upside down by his tentacles.
35	* ParodySue
36	* PlagiarismInFiction: Blackwood accuses a rival author of this. His editor also advises he do this to get an ending rather than continue the risky business with Nina.
37	* PrisonRape: One of the Romanian agents tries to threaten Nina this way in the beginning, saying he's heard that "sex with prison guards" is enjoyable. (In his own language, so the police don't understand.) She replies by slapping him.
38	* SecretPolice: The Securitate, communist Romania's dreaded agency, who set Nina up for murder in the US to force her into returning home.
39	* SeriousBusiness: [[spoiler:The reason the Romanian government is after Nina is because her family is a group of ''circus performers''; they don't want one of the country's best sources of entertainment to defect.]]
40	* StabTheScorpion: Nina throws a knife with perfect accuracy and impales a giant insect. This is the audience's (and Blackwood's) first hint that she may not be innocent. [[spoiler: And revisited at the end.]]
41	* TitleDrop: When Phil ''finally'' completes his new book, the title is ''Her Alibi''.
42	* UnreliableVoiceover: A variation. Blackwood's novel as inspired by the events is voiced over the action.

Context Film / HerAlibi