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Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Movie Review: 88 Minutes
'88 Minutes' actually a waste of 108
By Brett Troxler
btroxler@wbrz.com
Web Producer
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PLAY OFFICIAL TRAILER
out of 4 stars.
Dr. Jack Graham (Al Pacino) has been told he only has 88 minutes to live, though. Convinced the threat is coming from the imprisoned Jon Forster (Neal McDonough), a man many believe is the “Seattle Slayer” following his conviction nine years ago, Jack scrambles across Seattle with his New York accent trying to avoid his promised, impending death.
Further complicating the situation, another murder with the Seattle Slayer's M.O. all over it has occurred, and it just so happens the victim is a close acquaintance of Jack. With the man supposedly bearing that title in prison -- and there because of Jack's testimony as a forensic psychologist helped to convict him -- law enforcement officials think Jack is a likely suspect. Did I mention it's also the date of Mr. Forster's scheduled execution? Naturally.
Jack knows he's being framed by someone on the outside working with Forster, and there are more suspects than product in Pacino's afro-esque hair. The bad guy could be one of his co-workers, like teaching assistant Kim Cummings (Alicia Witt of “Law and Order: Criminal Intent” fame) or one of his students, like Lauren Douglas (Leelee Sobieski of “The Glass House). His paranoia also has him fingering random people he encounters.
With so many people to check on, Jack spends half of his 88 remaining minutes on one cell phone or another. In between bomb threats, assaults, explosions and fires, Dr. Graham does all kinds of business, requesting patch-throughs, call backs and on-the-spot background checks.
The amount of exposition in the dialog of “88 minutes,” many times taking place during this slew of phone calls, is tiresome. At every turn one character or another is explaining the details of what we should instead be seeing. These “What should we do next, Nancy Drew?” moments are a strong indicator of poor storytelling.
There are errors beyond the writing, as well. Clocks jump back two minutes in one scene. In another, Pacino enters a door to the stairs on the fourth floor only to walk through and wind up on the stairwell's fifth floor. Then there is the moment when Dr. Graham's assistant Shelly, played by Amy Brenneman, jumps across town in a matter of seconds. She also appears to have other superhuman powers, as she's capable of turning around requests for copious amounts of research in mere minutes. Take that Google.
As if the film-making errors aren't enough, the slightly spoiled revelation of who is terrorizing Jack is lackluster at best. Of course, when the rest of the film leading up to the climax is equally unrefreshing, what can you expect?
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