BRUCE BERESFORD
Bil’s rating (out of 5): BB.5.
Germany/Canada/USA, 1999. Paramount Pictures, MFP Munich Film Partners GmbH & Company I. Produktions KG, British Columbia Production Services Tax Credit. Screenplay by David Weisberg, Douglas Cook. Cinematography by Peter James. Produced by Leonard Goldberg. Music by Normand Corbeil. Production Design by Howard Cummings. Costume Design by Linda M. Bass, Rudy Dillon. Film Editing by Mark Warner.
Ashley Judd became a huge movie star when this lame thriller went number one at the box office for three weekends in a row. As a woman who is wrongly accused of murdering her husband when she blacks out on their yacht and wakes up to a bloody knife and no body, she’s lovely, brilliant and strong. Too bad the movie lets her down repeatedly: plot points like shoving her in a gothic Anne Rice-style New Orleans graveyard will be too ridiculous for some. While in jail, Judd discovers that her husband had faked his death for the money, and so plans to get him back when she gets out; after all, she could really kill him now that she can’t be tried for the same crime twice. Finding herself on parole, Judd lives in a halfway house run by Tommy Lee Jones (who basically emailed his performance from The Fugitive to the producers of this film) but escapes quickly to exact her revenge. The film’s main theme (and title) aren’t even used in the eventual denouement, robbing audiences of the pleasure of what they’ve been promised. If you liked An Eye for An Eye, you’ll just love this one.
