8MM

(Columbia TriStar)

Director Joel Schumacher and screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker seem to think they're being bold and controversial in this tale of ambitious but not-too-bright private eye Tom Welles (Nicolas Cage), who's hired by a tycoon's widow to investigate a reel of film found in her late husband's safe, an apparent snuff film depicting the slaying of a teenage girl. But what could be less risky than tantalizing viewers with glimpses of illicit thrills, then puritanically condemning those thrills?