A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Out of Time

Date Viewed: 10/26/03

Details:

Denzel Washington

Eva Mendes

Sanaa Lathan

Dean Cain

John Billingsley

Director: Carl Franklin

Score: 0

The Review: It's hard to get interested in a stupid protagonist.

What starts out as an extramarital affair, ends up (in no particular order) in a twisted mess of lies, drug money, arson, murder and a con game. The canonical phrase "nothing is as it appears" definitely holds true here, and attractive as it might seem to ferret out what is really happening, the audience is held at arm's length by blunder after oversight after stupidity. Denzel Washington plays chief of police on one of the small coastal island towns near Miami, and he keeps tripping over his own poorly thought out statements and convoluted personal life.

Mendes is pretty good as Washington's ex-wife and newly-promoted precinct detective. Billingsley is quite entertaining as Washington's friend, confidant and (incidentally) coroner. Hey, it's a small town.

(30-Nov-03)

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