Palmetto is the story of a deadly dupe. Elisabeth Shue is deadly (in oh-so-many ways), and Woody Harrelson is the dupe. Harrelson is journalist Harry Barber from small-town Palmetto, Fla. Harry went to jail a couple of years back when the corrupt local police authorities framed him for something or other just as he was about to bust their chops for assorted dirty deeds. But now Harry is out, and he's got a chip on his shoulder. Too bad he doesn't have a chip in his brain, because Harry's noggin is running on kilobytes in a gigabyte world. Harry has a gorgeous, sexy girlfriend named Nina (Gina Gershon playing against type as the good girl), who has stood by him and is anxious to lie next to him. She's a local sculptor and her medium is metal, although that fact seems largely included to allow footage of Gershon sweating in a cropped T-shirt while wielding a blowtorch. Harry also has a loyal pal, John Rennick (Tom Wright), who's willing to help Harry find a job. But Harry can't seem to wait. And pretty soon, he's agreed to help a rich local blonde named Rhea Malroux (Shue) stage a kidnapping of her stepdaughter, Odette (Chloe Sevigny). Seems Rhea's rich husband, Felix (Rolf Hoppe), is a tightwad, and mother and stepdaughter would like to increase their walking-around cash. Odette disappears for a while. Harry makes a demand for $500,000. He keeps $50,000 for himself. Nobody gets hurt, and everybody's happy -- including Felix, who gets his precious baby darling home safe and sound. Well, this is a fool's endeavor, of course, but Harry is far too stupid to realize it.

We can only presume that screenwriter E. Max Frye is a big fan of Lawrence Kasdan's Body Heat. The stories sure have a lot in common. There's the Florida coast setting. The double-crossing blonde sexpot. The dumb hero. The steamy dialogue. The hot coupling. The twisty plotting. And the lack of air-conditioning. But to paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen's retort to Dan Qualye: I have seen Body Heat. I have studied Body Heat. I love Body Heat. And Palmetto is no Body Heat.

Here's how come: In Body Heat, William Hurt's Ned Racine isn't so much stupid as careless, and we don't realize just how careless until the film's concluding moments. In Palmetto, we realize how stupid Harry Barber is from the outset. He hated being in jail, but he's willing to risk going back to jail for a very long time for $50,000? He's willing to commit a felony with people who haven't the imagination to ask for more than a half-million dollars? In short, we see most every step coming a half-hour before Harry figures out he's been tricked still again. Next, Kathleen Turner gave the performance of her life in Body Heat. This was her first big role and before her head got as big as Wisconsin. I have always liked Elisabeth Shue, but she's godawful here. She plays sexy by throwing back her shoulders and sticking out her chest. She makes you cringe when she paws herself like Mickey Rourke telling a rude New York cab driver where he can find his tip.