Play It Again

April 3, 1995
The name is for real: the son of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall debuts with an uninspired tale of New York PI R.J. Brooks, son of has-been movie star Belle Fontaine. The unsavory R.J. sleeps with his clients, wonders what he ever saw in his ex-wife and worries about his son from a distance. R.J. never got along with his famous parent, resenting her for being an absentee celebrity mom, but he nevertheless feels obliged to investigate when she and a man are found shot to death on a massage table in a pricey Manhattan hotel. Lt. Fred Kates, who is running the police probe, likes R.J. mainly as a suspect. Casey Wingate, who was making a film on Belle, however, is eager to join R.J. and pool information. Aided variously by his surrogate father, ``Uncle Hank'' Portillo (conveniently employed by the FBI), by Casey's recent film footage and sharp mind, by Belle's private diaries and by his own childhood memories, R.J. comes to see that the real object of the murderer's interest may still be alive. The plot may not be strong on logic but, then again, insanity figures powerfully in the resolution. Readers looking for a great Bogart work should stick to the big screen.