Movie Review Don't Worry Darling

Don't Worry Darling (2022) 

Directed by Olivia Wilde 

Written by Katie Silberman 

Starring Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Chris Pine, Gemma Chan, Nick Kroll 

Release Date September 23rd, 2022 

Published September 23rd, 2022 

If your life was perfect, how would you know? I’m not talking about the basic signifiers of things you would have that would make your life seem perfect like money, a nice house, a supportive family, I mean, what if life was perfect. No pain, no sorry, no irritation or even annoyance. Your every need is met immediately. Nothing is ever out of place. It’s an impossible standard, of course, but what if? If life were perfect, how would you know? 

This is a philosophical thought experiment. If life were perfect, perfect would be normal and thus not perfect. How do you know there is up without down? How do you know what joy is if you don’t know what the opposite of joy feels like? Yin and Yang, give life meaning. Love and the absence of love are distinct feelings. If you only ever knew love then love would become a mundane expectation of everyday life, unrecognizable without knowing the absence of it. What is loss if you never lose? 

The new movie Don’t Worry Darling got me thinking about this idea of a perfect life and how impossible that idea is. This notion that someone could invent a perfect life is downright silly but that doesn’t stop people from trying. Mad men like Chris Pine’s Frank seek to stamp out all problems from the world, tame life into what they want it to be. He’s admired for this madness and seeks to indoctrinate others to his notion of what a perfect life would look like. 

He’s arrogant enough to push aside the notion that the human mind is not built for perfection. In the brilliant action adventure movie, The Matrix, a character known as Agent Smith, wonderfully played by Hugo Weaving, explains that the A.I monsters who created The Matrix, a simulated reality intended to enslave humans while the humans themselves are treated as organic batteries, first created a perfect simulation. 

The first Matrix created a simulated reality with no heartache, no pain, no death, no war, no negatives whatsoever. Everyone was cared for and their needs were perfectly attended to. The humans went insane in no time at all. The mind rebelled against perfection because how would you know that life is perfect if every day featured the same level of precise perfection? If perfect becomes normal, normal becomes mundane and the imagination seeks something to think about, something to question. 

Click here for my full length review of Don't Worry Darling. 

Movie Review: Cowboys and Aliens

Cowboys and Aliens (2011) 

Directed by Jon Favreau

Written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby

Starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Adam Beach, Paul Dano

Release Date July 29th, 2011

Published July 28th, 2011

Why isn't Cowboys and Aliens the biggest event in popular culture ever? With the elements that the film has in place there is simply no excuse for this film to not be the biggest moment in pop culture, at least in this short century. Consider that we are talking about the combination of two of the most popular genres ever, western and science fiction. And that the film stars both James Bond (Daniel Craig) and Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), not to mention Han Solo and Jack Ryan.

How about the fact that Cowboys and Aliens was produced by a Hollywood dream team that includes Ron Howard, Brian Grazer and Steven Speilberg. To top it all off, this geek god of a movie was directed by the director of Iron Man 1 & 2--himself a cult figure for his role in Swingers--Jon Favreau. I ask again: Why isn't Cowboys and Aliens the biggest pop culture event ever?

Somewhere in the old west a man who doesn't yet know that his name is Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) awakens in the desert. His memory is gone, he's wounded and he has some sort of device strapped to his wrist. Eventually, Jake makes his way to the town of Absolution where everyone is under the boot of Col. Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford).

Unknown to Jake, he and Dolarhyde have a history; Jake robbed a stagecoach full of Dolarhyde's gold before his memory loss and subsequent desert awakening. Before Dolarhyde and Jake can have it out however, an alien spaceship attacks and begins kidnapping townsfolk. Suddenly, Jake's new jewelry comes to life and he's able to destroy one of the alien ships.

Now, Jake and Dolarhyde must team up with a posse that includes a little kid, a dog and a woman, Ella (Olivia Wilde) along with a preacher (Clancy Brown), a saloon owner (Sam Rockwell) and several random posse members who act as cannon fodder for subsequent alien attacks. Together this disparate band must traverse the desert, find the alien HQ and get their people back.

Cowboys and Aliens was adapted from a graphic novel by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg though how much of his original story remains is anyone's guess. At least six different writers have credits on the screenplay of Cowboys and Aliens including Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof, the Star Trek reboot team of Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, The Simpsons staff writer Bill Oedenkirk and the Iron Man team of Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby.

Wrestling these different visions into one mostly cohesive whole is director Jon Favreau who does pull off the Herculean task of making Cowboys and Aliens a believable combination of old school western and high end sci-fi while wrangling this wild horse of script into one well told story. Unfortunately, what is lost in the mix is a sense of humor as well of a sense of the film's place in popular culture.

For some reason, Jon Favreau wants us to take Cowboys and Aliens seriously. Both stars, Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford, deliver taciturn, old west tough guy performances that feel authentic but lack the awe, wonderment and humor that this goofy sci-fi story calls for. The film needed a Will Smith injection; a character who we can believe will hold up in a fight and yet has the aplomb to be impressed by the situation he finds himself in.

Cowboys and Aliens also suffers from a lack of cultural awareness; director Favreau wants to pretend that he is making an old school western that happens to have aliens. Favreau also wants to pretend that his stars are not weighted by pop culture history; why else has the film's marketing failed to mention that one of the stars is James Bond and the other is Indiana Jones?

You simply cannot cast Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford and not find some way to pay homage to their place in the culture. This head in the sand approach blunts the impact of everything they do in the film. We in the audience crave the release of having someone reference how huge all of this is and no one does. This is where the lack of a sense of humor comes into play; a sense of humor would find some way to make a joke about spies or the territory of Indiana, or an offhand reference to something about a Star War.

That however, would not have played into Jon Favreau's misguided choice to play the material of Cowboys and Aliens as a straight western that happens to have aliens attacking. On its own merits Cowboys and Aliens is well crafted, a little fat in the run time at over two hours, but solidly built aside from its lack of humor. Matthew Libatique's cinematography is terrific, the special effects are eye catching and believable, the film simply lacks the proper amount of awe.

In the end, if Jon Favreau did not want the weight of pop culture on his old school, John Ford Western that happens to have Aliens, he shouldn't have cast James Bond and Indiana Jones. Favreau set the pop culture table and then refused to serve it and that leaves Cowboys and Aliens a well made but slightly bland feast.

Movie Review The Change Up

The Change Up (2011) 

Directed by David Dobkin 

Written by Jon Lucas, Scott Moore

Starring Jason Bateman, Ryan Reynolds, Leslie Mann, Olivia Wilde

Release Date August 5th, 2011

Published August 5th, 2011 

Body switching comedies were all the rage in the 1980's. Back then George Burns became Charlie Schlatter, Judge Reinhold became Fred Savage and Dudley Moore became Kirk Cameron. Why anyone would think they could improve out on that genre gold is beyond me and yet, we have The Change Up in which Ryan Reynolds become Jason Bateman and vice versa.

Dave (Bateman) is a family man who's grown tired of his routine of diaper changes and no sex with his beautiful wife Jamie (Leslie Mann). Mitch (Reynolds) is an overgrown child who sleeps with any woman who looks at him and spends his days getting high when he isn't acting in softcore porn movies.

When the two life long friends get together for a beer and a game they end up confessing how they envy each other's lives. Unfortunately, they happen to be urinating in a magic fountain when they make their mutual confessions and the next morning they wake up with their bodies switched.

Now, Dave has to pray Mitch can go do his job at his law firm well enough to secure his promotion to partner while not neglecting his life at home with Jamie and their three kids including twin babies. Mitch, meanwhile, has nothing whatsoever at stake for Dave to screw up save for his regular Tuesday night sex-fest which Dave refuses to honor for reasons that you must experience for yourself.

The Change Up was directed by David Dobkin the director of The Wedding Crashers, a film that brought a little bit of heart to a very R-rated premise. Dobkin attempts to bring the same amount of heart and low brow humor to The Change Up but it simply doesn't work; Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds lack the magical chemistry of Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson.

The problem is the character of Mitch who is such an unredeemable dirtbag he makes it impossible to care about his story arc. We are invited to empathize with him but we are never given a good reason to actually offer that empathy. It's hard to feel sorry for a guy whose biggest problem is a bad relationship with his father; played by Alan Arkin, a bad relationship that is clearly his own fault.

The R-Rated gags of The Change Up are kind of funny here and there; especially funny is Reynolds who finds himself in the worst possible situations with women. After the body switch poor Dave has to avoid cheating on his wife with one of Mitch's women and has to fight off sex with Olivia Wilde, which is a Herculean task.

I'm not going to tell you that The Change Up isn't funny; there are a number of big laughs spread throughout the film. The problem is a story that requires you to sympathize with a character, Mitch, who is not sympathetic and who, when played by Bateman, is an idiot and a jerk without being a funny idiot jerk.

Movie Review: Tron Legacy

Tron Legacy (2010) 

Directed by Joseph Kosinski 

Written by Edward Kitsis 

Starring Garrett Hedlund, Bruce Boxleitner, Jeff Bridges, Olivia Wilde, Michael Sheen

Release Date December 17th, 2010 

Published December 16th, 2010

It's been nearly 30 years since the original "Tron" ended with Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) overcoming his creation, the Grid, and the evil Master Control program, to take control of Encom, the world's largest computer game maker. Picking up some 8 years later, Flynn is still Encom CEO until one day he simply vanishes leaving behind his son Sam.

Flash forward to today and Sam (Garrett Hedlund) is a rebellious 20 something on the outside of Encom looking in. One night, as Sam has just sabotaged the latest big name project of his father's company, simply for kicks, he is visited by Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner) his father's old partner who has a strange message for him. Alan has received a page but the fact that he wears a pager is not the surprise, the page came from Kevin Flynn's office at his long shuddered arcade.

When Sam goes to investigate he stumbles on a secret basement office and a strange looking computer. After a vain attempt at hacking it Sam suddenly finds himself struck by a laser and sucked inside the computer. He is now on the Grid, the seemingly mythical creation his father spent years trying to create.

Unfortunately for Sam the Grid is not a safe place. Run by the program Clu (Jeff Bridges?), it's a harsh digital realm where Programs are killed for sport in virtual gladiator arenas. Before Sam can be killed by Clu, he is rescued by Quorra who takes him to the creator, his long lost dad Kevin. The father and son reunion is short lived as the portal back to the real world closes soon and Sam must convince Kevin to go head to head with Clu in order to escape.

That is a linear interpretation of the plot of "Tron Legacy" and the futility of my description should be well in evidence. Tron Legacy is clearly not a movie that thrives on plot or detail. Instead, Tron Legacy just wants to have a good time playing with digital toys and listening to Jeff Bridges play a serious version of his The Dude from the Big Lebowski.

You think I'm kidding but listen to some of Bridges' lines like "Clu, your breaking my Zen man" or "I'm gonna go knock on the sky and see what I hear," lines delivered with a very Dude-like inflection. Those are actual lines from the movie Tron Legacy, not a parody, not a youtube mash-up, but actual lines delivered by Jeff Bridges with a level of 'I can't believe they are letting me do this' smugness.

Not that there is anything wrong with that smugness really. There is a good deal of entertainment to be found in how much Bridges relishes his freedom to be out there doing his own thing against this self serious digital background, it just goes against the grain in the most noticeable ways, ways I'm not sure were intentional.

Bridges is at times the only one in how goofy all of this really is. Well, he and Michael Sheen who takes on a role in "Tron Legacy" that only Ziggy Stardust could love. Sheen plays Zeus a nightclub owner who may or may not be fomenting rebellion against Clu and may or may not be an ally of Quorra and Flynn.

All Zeus really does is give rise to odd, unnecessary questions about this place called The Grid. When Sam arrives he is arrested immediately by Clu's guards. Why? We don't know. Then, after his stripped and dressed by refugees from a futuristic Marilyn Manson video, he is dropped into the game arena where he fights battles familiar from the first Tron movie, the Frisbee game, in front of a massive cheering, mostly unseen crowd. Who are these people in the crowd? What do they do? What function do they serve for Clu as he is creating what he calls a perfect world?

These questions are not the least bit important but they rise up in the mind while you are waiting for the next big digital landscape to emerge. Anytime Tron Legacy pauses for some exposition, a father son chat or whatever, the mind of the viewer can tend to wander to questions like why do computer programs need a bar? What do computer programs drink and why? Do they have food? Does Kevin Flynn have food? What has he been eating for 20 years trapped in a computer?

Again, none of this matters but so much of "Tron Legacy" is so massively dull that you cannot help but wonder. Then, Jeff Bridges will say something dude like and some cool looking effect will pop up and you will be transfixed for a moment. The moments unfortunately, don't really add up to much. By the time you come to understand Clu's bad guy motives you aren't likely to care.

"Tron Legacy" exists as a brand that Disney hopes to capitalize on like "Pirates of the Caribbean." It's a machine built to create sequels and make money. There are pleasures to be found in amongst all the goofiness but they are too few and far between to really recommend "Tron Legacy" as a whole.

At 2 hours plus, Tron Legacy wears out its welcome and while the effects will no doubt dazzle kids, mom and dad will be checking their watches regularly in between the minor giggles induced by The Dude as he abides a CGI universe.

Movie Review Deadfall

Deadfall (2012) 

Directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky 

Written by Zach Dean 

Starring Eric Bana, Charlie Hunnam, Sissy Spacek, Kris Kristofferson, Kate Mara, Olivia Wilde 

Release Date December 7th, 2012 

Published December 14th, 2012

Some movies just don't get the support they deserve. The thriller "Deadfall" is a good example. This smart, effective thriller starring Eric Bana, Olivia Wilde and Charlie Hunnam was forced to forgo much of a theatrical release in favor of an On-Demand cable release and has been judged by many as a failure because it's not playing on over a thousand screens nationwide.

That most movies that go this release route aren't very good serves to taint "Deadfall" and that's truly a shame. The fact is, "Deadfall" is better than dozens of so-called thrillers that made it to thousands of screens only to disappoint mass audiences in the same way "Deadfall" is thrilling and surprising the lucky few who've given it a chance.

Knocked Off Balance

"Deadfall" knocks viewers off balance from the opening moment. Three thieves, including Bana and Wilde as brother and sister, Addison and Liza, are headed for the Canadian border when their getaway car strikes a deer and the careens off of a snowy, Michigan back road. The getaway driver is killed and moments later, a bloodied Addison murders a responding State Trooper.

This jarring opening sets an unusual but nonetheless compelling tone for "Deadfall." As Addison and Liza divide their money and part ways with plans to reconnect in Canada another part of this story begins. Jay (Charlie Hunnam) has just been released from prison. We aren't made aware of his crime but it involves his past as boxer and a fraud in the ring. Jay quickly finds trouble again at his former gym and is soon on the run.

A Thriller, A Love Story, A Psychological Examination

These two stories converge when Jay happens upon a near catatonic Liza in the middle of the frozen highway. After rescuing her the two find sanctuary at a hotel bar. A few drinks and minor confessions later they are forgetting their troubles by shedding their clothes in the hotel. For Liza, this is part of a plan to get Jay to take her to his parents home, near the Michigan-Canadian border, a place he mentioned in passing.

After Liza calls Addison and tells him where they should meet up, her plans begin to change. Forced to spend another day at the hotel because of the winter conditions, Liza finds her connection to Jay getting deeper. The damage these two share leads to passion and what could very well be love, even as the two have only just met. It's a testament to the chemistry of Wilde and Hunnam that we barely question this connection.

Near Perfect Logic

The story of "Deadfall" unfolds to include Jay's perfectly cast parents, Sissy Spacek and Kris Kristofferson, and a young rural cop played by Kate Mara who's dealing with familial issues of her own in the form of her over-bearing cop father played by Treat Williams. That all of these characters will arrive at the same place at the same time at the end of the film is a given. How all arrive there and what happens is what makes "Deadfall" such an effective thriller.

There is a near perfect logic to the way the ending of "Deadfall" plays out. Writer Dean and director Ruzowitzky combine the psychological examination of Addison with the brief love story of Jay and Liza, the parental angst of Mara and Williams and Jay's struggles with his parents and his life into a simple, straightforward thriller plot that somehow never feels crowed over-complicated. There should not be a way for "Deadfall" to work so efficiently with so much weight heaped upon each character but it does.

Don't Judge a Movie By Its Release Strategy

So why, if "Deadfall" is as good as I am telling you it is, have you not heard about this film? Some of it has to do with Bana, a movie star who just hasn't become a Movie Star. When Bana was cast in "Deadfall" there was hope that his star-power along with a terrific supporting cast could propel the film. Unfortunately, Bana has simply never caught on with audiences and it was more efficient, from a business standpoint, to forgo theatrical release in favor of a direct to cable route.

While playing in several small theaters "Deadfall" was made available on Video on Demand services and on Amazon.com's streaming service. Do yourself a favor and don't judge the film for its lack of a wide theatrical release. "Deadfall" is more than worth a look On Demand or download.

Movie Review Booksmart

Booksmart (2019) 

Directed by Olivia Wilde 

Written by Susanna Vogel, Katie Silberman, Sarah Haskins 

Starring Beanie Feldstein, Kaitlyn Dever, Lisa Kudrow, Will Forte

Release Date March 24th, 2019

Published March 24th, 2019

Booksmart stars Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever, a long way from her role on Tim Allen’s Last Man Standing, as Molly and Amy, High School best friends who believe they have the whole school thing locked down. Molly and Amy have done little but focus on getting into the best colleges and owning the student government in order to make sure their college resumes were strong. The pair's plan appears to have worked as both are off to amazing schools. 

I say the plan appears to have worked but appearances can be deceiving. On the final day of the school year, Molly overhears some classmates making fun of her high achieving ways but when she tries to show them up by talking about getting into Yale, she finds that her fellow classmates have also gotten into good schools. This includes a girl Molly had dismissed as a tramp, Triple A (Molly Gordon), the name gets explained, trust me, who has also gotten into Yale. 

As Molly begins to confront other students about their school plans in the fall she finds that even her nemesis/crush, the jock football goof, Nick (Mason Gooding, Cuba Gooding’s son, FYI), has landed a scholarship to Georgetown in the fall. All of the time and effort that Molly and Amy put into getting into a good school wasn’t in vain, per se, but the realization is that they could have both achieved and still found time to enjoy themselves and party. 

Thus, with one night remaining before graduation, and Nick the jock throwing a raging party at his aunt’s house, Molly convinces Amy that they deserve one night of classic High School debauchery with drugs, drinking and bad choices. But first, they will need to find out where the party is actually taking place and find some way of getting there. This leads to a series of bizarre encounters on the way to the party. 

My absolute, unquestionable, favorite part of Booksmart is Billie Lourde, Carrie Fisher’s remarkably brilliant daughter. Lourd plays Gigi, a debauched rich girl who pals around with Jared (Skyler Gisondo), a sweet, misguided rich kid with a crush on Molly. Gigi pops up at random moments throughout Booksmart and gets a big laugh every single time. Lourd is boiling with charisma and charm and comic timing and I wanted more of her even as I recognize that any more of Gigi would ruin the magic of the character. 

A close second in the race for best supporting player in Booksmart is former Daily Show correspondent and co-host of the podcast ‘2 Dope Queens,’ Jessica Williams. Williams plays Ms. Fine, Molly and Amy’s favorite teacher. Such big fans of each other, the girls actually get their teacher’s phone number in class so they can stay in touch. Williams will re-enter the story later at the party and has a funny running gag about a student with a crush on her. Williams is brilliantly funny, never going for the easiest laugh and finding ways to twist a good joke. 

The whole of Booksmart falls under the direction of actress turned first time feature film director Olivia Wilde and what a remarkable job she has done. Taking a screenplay with four credited writers, Susanna Fogel, Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskin, and Katie Silberman, who has the ‘written by’ credit on IMDB, and shapes it with strong direction into a movie with memorable characters and big laughs. For a first time director, Wilde directs Booksmart with the confidence and competence of a veteran director. 

This is a wonderfully strong outing for someone with only a few short films on her directorial resume. Olivia Wilde has come out of the gates with a movie that demonstrates a director with a strong authorial voice. Wilde appears generous with her cast, giving them the time to find the jokes while shaping the scenes to the overall narrative. The film is notably raunchy, as the trailer indicates, but Booksmart also has a strong emotional component that plays into the ending I won’t spoil. It’s a lovely coda and one you should see and enjoy. 

I can’t believe I have gone this far without talking about the young stars of Booksmart, but here we are. Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever are, no surprise if you’ve read this far, wonderful in Booksmart. Feldstein consistently subverts expectations and gets laughs and pathos in equal measure. Dever, playing an out of the closet teenager in authentic and achingly real fashion, has an emotional arc that is also exceptionally funny because she is naturally talented and draws the laughs out of the real. The chemistry between Feldstein and Dever is off the charts and you can’t help but adore their dynamic. 

Booksmart is one of my favorite movies of 2019. Wildly funny, smart and emotional, it’s an exceptionally strong debut feature for director Olivia Wilde. I can only imagine incredible things for Wilde’s directorial future. The raunchy humor and comparisons to Superbad may be what gets audiences in the door, but they will remember Booksmart for a terrific cast and Olivia Wilde’s smart, funny directorial choices. 

Movie Review: The Next Three Days

The Next Three Days (2010) 

Directed by Paul Haggis 

Written by Paul Haggis 

Starring Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Brian Dennehy, Olivia Wilde, Liam Neeson 

Release Date November 19th, 2010 

Published November 18th, 2010 

Paul Haggis loves a story that examines fate and chance and the seeming randomness of life. Bringing order to the chaos of life was part of what made his “Crash” such a fascinating drama. It was messy in the ways it brought characters together, crashing them together emotionally and sometimes physically, yet there was fate seeming to shine down on each character and reveal that there may have been no other way for these things to happen.

”Crash” is a remarkable film filled with powerful performances and emotions that deepen with repeated viewings. It's the opposite experience of Mr. Haggis's latest film, “The Next Three Days.” Ostensibly a prison break thriller about a husband trying to save the life of his accused murderer wife by busting her out of jail, “The Next Three Days” is, in reality, a gutless exercise in thriller machinations and not the kind of emotional, thoughtful examination of fate that Haggis would like you to think it is. 

Russell Crowe stars in “The Next Three Days” as Community College English teacher John Brennen. John is a great dad to 3 year old Lucas and a loving husband to Lara (Elizabeth Banks), his workaholic wife who, when we meet her first at a dinner with John's brother and overly flirty fiancée, has just left a rather confrontational day at the office. Lara and her boss were seen to have a wild screaming match just before each left for the day. The next day, as John is getting his son breakfast and mom is leaving for work the police burst through the door and Lara is arrested, charged with murder. Lara's boss was found dead in the parking lot and Lara's car was seen leaving the scene and her fingerprints are on the murder weapon.

Three years later, John and Lara have exhausted her appeals. Lara is going to spend the rest of her life in prison unless John does something drastic. He could appeal to the Supreme Court but without new evidence that won't help. His only real option, once Lara has attempted suicide, is to break her out of prison and get her and Lucas out of the country. Oh, but how will an average, pudgy, College professor plan a prison break?

My plot description is limited to portions of the first act. The second act, featuring a stellar cameo by Liam Neeson, is where “The Next Three Days” moves from sad family drama to attempted thriller. Where Haggis's talent for examining fate through the actions of characters in extreme emotional distress, The Next Three Days becomes a boilerplate thriller with very little interest in examining the motivations of the characters or allowing them depth beyond the function they perform in the hackneyed thriller plot. 

This is not the fault of Russell Crowe who pulls off quite an acting challenge in “The Next Three Days.” Crowe first has to convince us that he is not an action hero and then turn John Brennen into enough of an average action hero that he can do the things needed to break Lara out of prison. Given Crowe's movie born reputation as a tough guy whose characters could easily be capable of attempting a prison break it is remarkable to see Crowe show such vulnerability and then morph that vulnerability into desperate necessity.

If only the rest of “The Next Three Days” had Crowe's determination. Sadly, director Paul Haggis lacks his star's nerve. Surrounding Crowe's tour de force performance is a soporific movie that cannot bear the ambiguity needed to really give the thriller stuff a charge. Never for a moment are you allowed to see John as anything but heroic nor are you allowed to wonder too much about Lara's guilt or innocence.

A more daring film would allow John to do things less than heroic in order to achieve his goal. A more daring film might have asked some more daring questions about Lara's guilt or innocence. Instead we get a scene at the movie's end that removes all doubt and lets the characters and the audience off the hook. Rather than pushing us to question what we would do in a similar situation Paul Haggis keeps his questions superficial and easy to answer.

“Crash” could be dismissed as superficial but Haggis introduced an idea behind the heavy emotions on display; the idea of fate and that of the randomness of life a destiny, for good or for ill, could emerge. There are few, if any, challenging ideas behind the facile thrills of “The Next Three Days” and the film suffers mightily for it.

In the end, “The Next Three Days” has the compromised feel of a very Hollywood production, the kind of market tested drivel that is meant to leave audiences reassured that there values haven’t been challenged. Were it not for Mr. Crowe, I would call it boring, but with him and his determined performance, “The Next Three Days” is merely a failure.