Another whodunnit, who cares

You are probably already familiar with the plotline of this film: cop gets promoted to Homicide division, bodies instantly start turning up, cop gets put on the case only to realize she knows all the victims, cop must fight her own demons and beat the odds to solve the case. That sums up the movie in a nice little package, only I may have made it sound better than it really was.\nAshley Judd stars as homicide detective Jessica Shepard, a tough cookie who drinks her fair share of booze and likes to pick up dudes for one night stands after a hard day on the job. Jessica is a very intelligent and always alert cop, but we soon learn she is prone to uncontrollably violent outbursts. Couple this with the fact that she has frequent blackouts, and it causes even her to question her own innocence as the bodies of former lovers start piling up. \nThe supporting cast includes Jessica's partner (Andy Garcia), a police commissioner (Samuel L. Jackson) who raised Jessica after her father killed her mother and a slew of others before killing himself, a psychiatrist (David Strathairn), who constantly questions her past and basically tells Jessica what do next, and several former lovers, all of whom are potential suspects. \nThe movie is setup so any character could potentially be the murderer. However, the potential suspects are killed off one by one until it reaches the point where you don't even care who the mystery killer is anymore. \nScenes in this flick simply do not add up and will leave you asking the obvious questions: Why is Jessica never taken off the case when she knows all the victims? Why does she keep drinking even though she blacks out every time? Why is Samuel L. Jackson, one of the best actors of the last decade, even in this film? What am I doing in this theater? \nOverall, the film suffers not only from an overly contrived plot, but its dialogue is unnatural, the characters are inconsistent (to keep you guessing of course), Judd's hair is too short and there is no resolution, the movie just ends rather abruptly. What might be considered a surprise ending is more of a "what you would possibly least expect" ending. \nWhile the cast is top notch, the script they have to work with is what ultimately restricts the actors. There is no room for their characters to be more than one-dimensional because they are too busy trying to be possible suspects without being overt. This is a thriller which provides no thrill at all.