Confidential: A gritty, messy undercover flick that barely holds together

Is it worth your time?

If you have an hour to kill and don't mind a movie that feels like it was written on the back of a napkin in a busy diner, then sure, go for it. If you need tight logic or characters that actually talk like real humans, you might want to skip this one. It's mostly for folks who dig old-school crime pulps where everyone is either a thug or a fed with a grudge.

The whole thing kicks off with a classic revenge setup. A federal agent goes undercover because his friend got knocked off. It’s simple, maybe too simple.

There is this one guy in the gang—I won't name him, but he’s got that squinty look—who just won't stop staring at the protagonist. He keeps saying, "I've seen your face before." It happens like three times. It starts to feel less like tension and more like the scriptwriter forgot how to introduce conflict.

Watching the feds try to act like street toughs is pretty funny. They always stand just a little too straight, you know? Like they’re waiting for a parade to start.

There is a scene near the middle involving a back-alley meeting that goes on way too long. The shadows are great, very moody, but the dialogue? It sounds like they are reading the phone book to each other. It’s dry. Really, really dry.

It definitely lacks the polish you see in something like Street of Sin. That movie had a rhythm to it, a flow. Confidential just sort of jumps from one room to the next without bothering to tell us how we got there.

Odd moments worth noting:

• The lighting in the warehouse scene is bizarre. Half the actors are in pitch blackness while the other half are lit up like a Christmas tree.
• The lead agent has this habit of adjusting his tie whenever he’s nervous. He does it like ten times. It’s distracting.
• The background music kicks in at the most random times, like during a quiet conversation about coffee.

I found myself wondering if they ran out of budget halfway through shooting. Some scenes look expensive, and others look like they were filmed in a closet. It’s uneven as all get-out, but I didn't hate it. It’s just... there. It’s a B-movie through and through, and it doesn't try to hide that fact.

If you enjoyed the messy charm of The Boob, you might find something to like here. It’s not a masterpiece, but it’s not trying to be. It’s just a movie about a guy with a gun and a bad attitude. Sometimes that’s enough. 🕵️‍♂️