What to Watch 35 Years Later: Finding Risky Romance in a Serial Killer Investigation in ‘Sea of Love’

Love. It can make us do crazy things, like making a detective fall head over heels for a potential serial killer. That’s the simple premise for 1989’s Sea of Love, the returning vehicle for Al Pacino after a four-year absence. Why it works so well is also pretty simple, more on that later.

THE STORY: Detective Frank Keller (Pacino) is running on fumes. The veteran New York City investigator has hit a milestone of 20 years with the force. In most lines of work, 20 years is a sign of expertise in your field, and Keller definitely brings that. His expertise has come at a price though. A focus on work prompted his wife to stray, cheating on him with a colleague in the precinct. He’s coped with the depression of her departure by leaning into alcohol on the regular.

Keller’s newest case is a doozy. It starts with the murder of a man who at the crime scene is discovered face down and naked in the bed with “Sea of Love” playing on a record player. A few clues—specifically a lonely hearts ad in the newspaper, point to a woman as a culprit. Two other men meet the same fate, and Frank gets the clearance to run an ad in the paper that should bring the suspect to him. Partnering with out-of-borough detective Sherman Touhey (John Goodman), the duo set up shop in a cooperating restaurant to inspect the prints of the dates Frank meets with who answered the ad.

It’s a bust, and every woman rejects Frank’s advances or sees right through them. Yet one comes back after the date. One Helen Cruger (Ellen Barkin), an eccentric yet enthralling individual, brings the right kind of energy into the aging detective’s life. Keller can’t see through the seduction—or chooses to look the other way—even as the clues flash strongly in her direction.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR: Sometimes all it takes for an effective career relaunch is a steamy love story. Granted, Sea of Love is not solely a sneaky romance, but a romance built on a cat-and-mouse foundation in the overpopulated, grimy playground of NYC. If you didn’t know you were watching a film noir, the saxophone track at the beginning will surely tell you.

A talented supporting cast exists in Sea of Love, including the still-fresh faces at the time of Goodman (has the funniest moments here), Richard Jenkins, Michael Rooker, and a man credited as ‘Black Guy” who would go on to be Samuel L . Jackson. But this is a movie highlighting the two on the poster. Chemistry between two actors is the defining factor for any script built on not just two characters loving each other, but lusting after each other in pure primal passion. The chemistry can’t just be solid, it has to be electric, and for Pacino and Barkin, it is. The duo’s chemistry is evident from their first interaction at the restaurant, and even as the first meetup doesn’t end positively, the seeds are sowed well for future fireworks. For all of Pacino’s gravitas, it hasn’t always translated to on-screen chemistry with his partners, but in Barkin, she’s the perfect foil to the legend from a character perspective. She’s sexy but in possession of street-smarts, and maintains a level of “affable aloofness” that may or may not be her own volition.

Written by Richard Price, Sea of Love does a great job of fleshing out its two lead characters out with background details revealed through their interactions with each other, making both Frank and Helen deeply relatable. It generally makes sense why they have found each other and why they click so well. And the interesting thing is, this relationship drives the film, not the initial murder mystery, to the point where I’d probably say this is a romance first, mystery/thriller second. Some of the writing is unfortunately rooted in the 80’s era, and the reveal kind of works and doesn’t at the same time, but the feature is so well-paced with its stars driving the action so strongly that these shortcomings are easy to overlook.

A GREAT MOMENT: Do not want to spoil too much (it’s an older movie yet not a widely viewed one), but it’s the scene right before the climax. In this scene, Frank has literally and figuratively come to his senses following a prolonged period of inebriation. Shortly after visiting Helen, he finds information that may connect the final dots into solving this murder case.

Frank is certain that Helen is involved, and in the span of about two minutes, he transforms from bad cop into good cop in search of getting a confession. The interesting thing is that while Helen stays resolute in putting across her bewilderment and lack of involvement, that only makes Frank more manic. But his mania isn’t coming from a place of wanting to close the case, it’s coming from a place of desperately hoping that the woman he’s fallen for couldn’t be the prime suspect. It’s in that moment where you can sense that Frank would rather be wrong and still be with Helen over being right and losing her forever. It’s a wonderful Pacino moment.

THE TALLY: Phenomenal chemistry and well-rounded characters guide Sea of Love through, in the words of Detective Keller, the wet ass hour where he’s everyone’s daddy. It’s What to Watch.