Mid 90's crap film about Private Investigator who once sexually abused his kid.

[Snesman64]

Warning, potentially controversial subject matter...

I saw a movie in the mid 90's.  I rented it from Blockbuster and I remember it was rather bad, so I assume it was straight to video. 

I don't remember much about the actual plot.  I think the investigator is investigating a case about a child's death.  But he keeps finding evidence in the families he interviews relating to sexual abuse and it keeps freaking him out, like it somehow relates to his past.  In and epic TWEEST it turns out he previously abused his own (now estranged) daughter.  Now, the movie seemed to portray the man in a sympathetic light, like it was a horrible mistake that cost him his family. 

The only scene I remember clearly is that he's talking to the mother of a child and at one point he's alone and he sees her little girl playing with a young girl doll and a father doll. The father doll says "Now you must remember not to tell anyone about this!" and the Private Investigator looks freaked out, as if he's  thinking "Oh my god, *I* did that!" The girl looks up and sees him and immediately stops.

That is...... really really dodgy subject matter.  I'm hoping I'm remembering the movie wrong and it turns out he was ABUSED in this manner.  I've always kind of wondered what the film was called just to see if I'm right.

Sorry, that's all I've got on it.

[Snesman64]

Aha!!

It's Play Nice

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105147/

And FORTUNATELY I remembered wrong... the detective never abused anyone, but his sister had been abused by their father, which is why all the abuse going on around him was weirding him out so much.

(If you can't be bothered to check the imdb description but are still curious, it was about a serial killer who targets men who previously abused their daughters and got away with it).

[M.10rda]

What a weeeird plot... never heard of this one. I was wondering if you were conflating elements of two 90s films about investigators - THE SWEET HEREAFTER and the totally nonsensical EYE OF THE BEHOLDER (a remake of a slightly more cogent French film, DEADLY CIRCUIT, from the early 80s) - both of which suggest the sort of parallel you describe to some extent. Neither of them actually has that plot, though - and I'm somewhat surprised to hear that any authentic film does! 

[Rev. Powell]

Glad you found it.