Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (March 12, 2026)
We kids who grew up in the 1970s knew Cher as a pop singer and TV variety show star. For those who got to know her in the 1980s, however, they encountered a wholly different view of the icon, as she heavily pursued films in that decade, with 1987’s Suspect as one of her many efforts in that decade.
Set in Washington DC, Justice Lowell (Thomas Barbour) commits suicide and then someone murders his clerk Elizabeth Quinn (Katie O’Hare). When they find him with Quinn‘s wallet, authorities arrest homeless Carl Wayne Anderson (Liam Neeson) for the crime.
Public defender Kathleen Riley (Cher) gets the assignment to act as his attorney, a task the seemingly feral Anderson resists. Nonetheless, Kathleen persists and winds up in a thicket of scandalous complications as she believes in Anderson’s innocence and she pursues the real killer.
Though she appeared in a few 1960s films – including a 1969 vanity project called Chastity directed by then-husband and musical partner Sonny Bono – Cher didn’t actively pursue cinematic stardom until she worked as part of an ensemble for Robert Altman’s 1982 flick Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. She nudged more into movies with 1983’s Silkwood and 1985’s Mask.
Though Silkwood brought Cher an Oscar nomination, 1987 became her real “coming out party” as an actor. She appeared in three movies that year, as she made The Witches of Eastwick and Moonstruck along with Suspect.
Witches and Moonstruck became big hits, as both wound up in the top 10 at the 1987 US box office. Cher also won an Oscar for her lead role in Moonstruck.
Suspect became the odd film out here. Its $18 million gross left it at 58th place for the year, and it disappeared from the public consciousness pretty quickly.
I’d love to claim Suspect deserved a better fate. Unfortunately, it delivers an erratic and borderline goofy thriller.
The biggest issue here comes from the downright absurdity of a major plot point. We meet lobbyist Eddie Sanger (Dennis Quaid), a member of the jury in Carl’s trial.
Of course, we know that Eddie will become more than just part of the panel, partly because Quaid was a movie star by 1987 and also because the film sets up Eddie as a substantial character before the trial begins. The manner in which Suspect involves Eddie becomes absolutely absurd.
At the risk of spoilers, the story makes Eddie an amateur detective who then feeds info to Kathleen. If you expect our two attractive leads will embrace a romantic situation as well, I won’t disabuse you of that belief.
Even if everything else about Suspect clicked, the idea that an attorney would actively associate with a juror makes this a blatantly idiotic movie. Granted, I assume this happens every so often, but given the film wants us to buy Kathleen as dedicated and intelligent, it becomes a bridge too far that she would take such a major risk.
This becomes especially true because Kathleen and Eddie barely attempt to hide their relationship. In one of the weirdest stabs at cinematic tension I’ve ever seen, one sequence displays how Kathleen and Eddie try to collaborate in a library right in front of Judge Matthew Bishop Helms (John Mahoney).
While the filmmakers hope this endeavor will quicken viewer pulses, it comes with a different effect. Instead, I wanted to slap the characters for their blatant stupidity.
Even if Suspect eliminated this ridiculous plot thread, it still wouldn’t fare much better. The story simply never builds a head of steam – or turns particularly coherent, for that matter.
We get a series of plot beats in search of logic. This leads toward a climax so silly that I can barely fathom that veteran filmmakers thought this project made sense as a major motion picture.
And we do find a lot of talent here. With Cher, Quaid, Mahoney and Neeson in tow as well as Joe Mantegna, Philip Bosco and others, we get a more than capable cast, and director Peter Yates and screenwriter Eric Roth also bring ability to the table.
The actors generally do fine, though Cher feels miscast as the public defender. Her “diva energy” overwhelms the part and makes it tough to accept her in that role.
Even with a better cast lead, Suspect would flop due to the ridiculous narrative. Seriously, a justice offs himself and then his clerk gets murdered almost immediately but no one thinks a connection might exist?
Not in the goofball world of Suspect. I like legal thrillers but this one becomes far too absurd to swallow.
