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Year:   1999
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Movie:  3/5
DVD:    1/5

Teaser

Nick and Elizabeth "Libby" Parsons (Bruce Greenwood and Ashley Judd) are a happily married young couple with a son, Matthew "Mattie" (must suck having a girl's name for a nickname). Libby's life takes a turn for the worse when, on a sailboat trip, Nick disappears leaving blood all over the place. Libby is convicted for her husband's murder and Mattie is adopted by Libby's best friend Angie (Annabeth Gish).

Once in prison Libby finds out that Nick is still alive. Libby waits her time and once she's on parole she runs away and goes chasing after Nick and Mattie. Meanwhile her parole officer, Travis Layman (Tommy Lee Jones), trails after Libby trying to bring her to justice. Can Libby find her son and clear her name before the law catches up to her?

Movie

This is a bit of a thriller with action sequences mixed in. The basic premise I don't think is quite correct -- that once you've been tried for a crime you didn't commit you can't be tried again if you actually commit the exact crime. But other than that it's a movie that flows fairly well.

Actors

Tommy Lee Jones once again plays a law man chasing after an escaped convict. At least this time his character is different, being a failed criminal lawyer turned parole officer. Ashley Judd has had a good acting career so far, being a far cry from her mother and sister. She's beautiful and athletic and comes off as being an interesting person in interviews. Bruce Greenwood plays an amoral villain. Nick doesn't do things because he's evil. He's just greedy and has no regard for other people.

DVD

The movie is in wide screen format in English or French with optional English subtitles. There is a theatrical trailer and a 13-minute behind the scenes featurette. This is one those featurettes which both summarizes most of the plot and keeps referring to the characters by the actors' names. It's too much of a commercial to be all that interesting.

Recommendations

It's an interesting movie that I recommend people see.
Copyright (c) 2003 Kevin C. Wong
Page Created: December 1, 2003 Page Last Updated: December 1, 2003