Dressed to Kill (Brian De Palma, 1980)

I've read that this is supposedly a feminist film because it's largely about a woman looking at/after another woman (the female cop shadowing Liz [Nancy Allen]. But that revelation comes too in the film to matter. And on one level, the ending is an acknowledgment of the shared oppression between Kate (Angie Dickinson) and Liz. But on another, it's a baffling, lazy dream scene, a godawful ending more unimaginative than any of the Hitchcock steals. Risible, juvenile, Dressed to Kill is yet another baffling entry in De Palma worship. Do I much prefer Femme Fatale solely because it doesn’t seem driven by the fears of a 15-yo boy?

Grade: C+