Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)They are the critics, especially those writing reviews collected online. Part of this is that they want Jennifer Aniston to be cast, as usual, as the wholesome girl next door.
The critics saw all the surprises ahead of time. I really didn't and I enjoyed them. (If you figured out the twists in A Beautiful Mind, you can guess this, too.)
Another possible reason for the tepid reviews is that it is an upsetting movie with several horrific scenes of violence. No doubt about it, it simply isn't a likable movie; if you were to take your kids --dont!-- they'd have nightmares.
Financial advisor Lucinda Harris (Jennifer Aniston) and ad guy Charlie Schine (Clive Owen) have an illict affair after a chance meeting on a commuter train. But it doesn't go smoothly and soon they are victims of an extortion plot.
As usual, the advertising agency scenes are off the mark. What is a "commercial executive?" Even though we see Charlie at work what exactly does he do? (Even What Women Want -- a much better film -- went wrong here.) Even worse, there is no there there to the financial advisor scenes. So both characters' jobs are Hollywood hooey.
Both the main chracters are in a complete bind between family conflicts -- Charlie has a sick child -- high-pressure jobs, their shared secret, and their shared victimhood.
As in all the Hitchcock films, the victims can't go the police. (Remember how threatening the police officer is to Marion Crane -- Janet Leigh -- in Psycho?)
Surely this is no Hitchcock masterpiece, but it is an entertaining and twisty thriller.
The screenwriter Stuart Beattie also wrote the far better Collateral. Maybe the more you liked Collateral, the less you will like Derailed?
Even with two well-known stars, there is zero anticipatory buzz about this movie. We all know Jennifer Aniston from Friends on TV, but Mr. Owen has been in many excellent films: Sin City, Closer, The Bourne Identity, Gosford Park, Croupier.
Rappers RZA and Xzibit are well-cast supporting players. Vincent Cassel captures the essence of the chameleon-like villain. You want to throttle him throughout the picture.
Did the studio that released this picture have little faith in it? The marketing budget and the short marketing time frame -- a few weeks in advance, not months -- suggest that's true. Maybe their dismissive attitude was conveyed to the critics.
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DERAILED - DVD Movie
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