Customer Reviews

12:01 [VHS]

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

There's just something so cool about this movie's concept. Yes, it's very similar to Groundhog Day and also Ken Grimwood's novel Replay, yet 12:01 has its own identity. This film is sharp, funny, and romantic. It also throws a bone to the sci-fi fanatics. And, unlike Groundhog Day, 12:01 doesn't get mired in the muck of existentialism. I've only seen this once - I guess, 13 years ago - when it originally aired on television in 1993. But, it's stayed in my brain. I was very disappointed when I checked on this site months ago and realized that this dvd hasn't been put out yet. Well, the excellent news is that now, there is a release date: November 28, 2006. Believe me, I pre-ordered this sucker pronto.

Barry Thomas (Jonathan Silverman) is an office drone languishing in his stuck-in-a-rut job while crushing on this beautiful, brainy research scientist Lisa, who is seemingly way out of his league. A typical humdrum day at work ensues and ends; then, shockingly, Barry witnesses Lisa brutally get shot down to death. Overwrought, he goes to a bar and drinks. Later that night, a storm causes a lamp to shock Barry, exactly at 12:01AM. He wakes up the next morning to find that he's been caught in a time loop, where the same day keeps repeating. Now, armed with certain knowledge of predetermined events, Barry attempts to prevent Lisa's death and escape the time trap.

Jonathan Silverman stood out in my mind as being particularly charming in a lovable loser role. He carried this film. Throughout 12:01, I cheered for him to get things right, save the girl and win her heart. Helen Slater was very sweet here, her performance nicely meshing with Silverman's to create a nice, easy chemistry. We also got to see co-stars Jeremy Piven and Martin Landau.

This was a fast-paced, unassuming but vastly entertaining, little film which contained, at the heart of it all, a sweet romantic storyline, while also serving as a competent thriller. But the giddy sci-fi premise is, undoubtedly, what made it so captivating in people's eyes. The fact that this dvd is being touted as a "special edition" makes me hope that it would come with some decent special features. Let's hope.

I am a fan of Science Fiction and I disagree with all the negative comments below. This story was never meant to be as heavy as 2001 or even Ground Hog Day. The actors are not preforming Shakespeare. They do a very good job in this light drama, perhaps more a kin to a tv movie. Helen Slater gives a very subtle and nuanced portrayal of a woman who is deeply lonely and yet still open to a man who sincerely cares about her. The story focuses on the characters and their interaction and does not spend an inordinate amount of time on explaining the cause of the time displacement. This is one of the best science fiction movies I have ever seen because it is honest, simple, and done with care. I doesn't bother me that it obviously had a low budget. Besides, the whole thing essentially takes place on one floor of an office building.

This movie will have you thinking long after it's over. Before Dark City and The Matrix came along, this innovative film put you in the shoes of someone who's whole context challenges him to alter reality, fall in love, and change who he has been being in his life to accomplish it. In the proces, he learns more about what is going on in the world around him then he ever would have.

The main premise is what if a day were to repeat itself and you were the only one outside the loop who knew it. All the other people would forget everything when the day ended. Telling you this doesn't ruin anything because the movie keeps the pace quick and throws in a lot of variables for our hero to overcome while always keeping it interesting. This film also features a wonderful comic turn by Jeremy Piven way before his popular role on the entourage series.

This film works on many levels. I am not surprised that the fellow admiring reviewers saw it so many times. Like The Matrix it is a movie that rewards with several viewings.

12:01 was originally based on Richard Lupoff's short story 12:01pm, he wrote the story around 1972-73 it was published in Dec 1973's edition of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

In 1989 a 30 minute film was made by director Jonathan Heap.
In 1993 the 12:01 movie was made with Helen Slater and Jonathan Silverman.
Then Hollywood got a hold of the movie and did a remake, I never found out what they called the movie but Richard Lupoff basically called them a pack of hollywood thieves.

I thought at first it was Groundhog Day but Lupoff states they changed the name but not the story so it couldn't of been Groundhog Day as the story was so different. So if anyone knows what the Hollywood release was called please tell, as Lupoff doesn't state in his book what they named it.

To read the short story you'll have to buy the book by Richard Lupoff called Before...12:01...and after. There are 23 short stories in the book 12:01pm being one of them.

Anyway, I think this movie is great, some may say its cheesy but hey I like cheese sometimes. I like Helen Slater and Jonathan Silverman I think they work well together in this movie. Plus i've always been interested in anything that involves time changes, like time travel, parallel universes etc.
It does make me think what I would actually do if I got stuck in a day that was repeating, I would only hope it wasn't a work day..lol

I have a copy on VHS but I wish they would release the DVD. It was a dissapointment to find them advertise a release date then the day of its release say it was not available.

Conceptually similar to "Groundhog Day", this made-for-cable movie goes that film one better. In Groundhog Day, Bill Murray's character lived the same day over and over, and learned lessons in life in the process. In 12:01 the hero witnesses a murder. Once he realizes that he is living the same day over and over, he spends each recurring day trying to prevent the murder. I found this film thoroughly entertaining. I hope that it will become available on DVD.

12:01 was first recommended to me in a video store, where I was a regular customer. I later taped it from a TV channel and saw it again several times. I have been looking regularly for (and forward to) a DVD release of 12:01, and am very delighted that this very superior "small production" is finally being given the DVD treatment that it rightly deserves.

12:01 is both funny, suspenseful and romantic - a rare quality, and seldomly succesful when deliberately aimed for. But here, the entire movie, from script and production to direction and acting, is well made and highly original, playing on all sides of the story's aspects and the audience's feelings with flawless and tastefully good timing.

12:01 deals with a time paradox, and is one of the best sci-fi movies based on a time theme, that I ever saw... But it can also be seen by people without any preference for sci-fi, simply as a kind of family film.

A TV production, 12:01 was overshadowed by the box office comedy, Groundhog Day, which has a very similar time paradox theme. This was sad, since 12:01 is by no means a cheap imitation of Groundhog Day.

If you are in doubt as to whether this is really an overlooked gem, take a further a look at IMDB.com where people who saw this movie also find it brilliant and sadly overlooked.

This is such a great movie and I am so excited to see that it is being offered on DVD! I've watched this movie since I was a little girl and it will always have a soft spot in my heart.

It's kind of the same premise as Groundhog Day only I would say that it's better. The day is repeating and only the main character is aware of it. The twist is that a super expensive particle beam is illegally being fired (which is causing the repeated day) and the main character must stop the culprit with the help of his new romantic interest.

This movie is funny, romantic, and exciting. All of the things that make for a great movie! I'd recommend it for anyone.

a great movie. action, suspense, romance, comedy. i loved it so much, i don't even have to watch it anymore. i just hold it in my hands and remember. some may call this fandom, some obsession. i call it a slice of reality.

As I recall (I only saw it the one time, 13 years ago), this is a gem of an adventure/romance/murder-mystery/hard-science scifi movie. The cause of the day's repeating is "plausible", as is the hero's being exempt from the cluelessness everyone else experiences that the day is repeating, as are the motivations of all the principal characters.
Silverman's character has an alarm clock that I'd love to have, "Get up, lazy boy!"
I had one very slight quibble at the end of the movie, that I felt was the director's mistake, but may have been the fault of some studio honcho. The idea of the story is that the day "bounces back" as the result of an event. I don't recall whether they explicitly invoked the image of a record (you remember vinyl LPs) skipping, but that is the idea I took away ... that there was a skip or bounce or jump. At the end of the movie, there is, and they only did it the one time as I recall, a visual montage (is that redundundundant) of the day rewinding. That was jarring to me, went against the idea of the bounce or skip or jump and didn't make hard-science sense.
But hey, I am definitely pre-ordering the DVD!

I saw this movie before I saw Groundhog Day and I think this was a better take on the whole time-loop idea. I'd recommend this movie to anyone. I hope that it comes to DVD as I don't buy VHS anymore.