Customer Reviews

Benefit of the Doubt [VHS]

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I wasn't sure if I should give this flick 1-star for being so bad or 5-stars for being so bad it's good, so I went for the happy medium of 3. If you enjoy poorly scripted, odd, formulaic thrillers like I do, then this is right up your alley.

Donald Sutherland plays a man who has just been relased from jail after 22 years spent there for the murder of his wife (although he says it was an accident... and you should hear the speech about loving America he makes to obtain his parole... very ironic in hindsight...har har). He goes back to his hometown, where he tries to reconcile with his daughter (played by Amy Irving) and his grandson who want nothing to do with him. At first I thought, this movie is called "Benefit of the Doubt"...maybe it's about an innocent man who has to try to win his daughter's trust back, and she won't give him the benefit of the doubt so he has to keep on keeping on until they can be all lovey-dovey again and live happily ever after. Maybe his suspect behaviour was the filmmaker trying to make Sutherland look suspicious so we'd be as leery of him as she was. About a half-hour in I began to have doubts that that was the case. The only reason I did all this musing is because it was Donald Sutherland, so I naturally assumed it would at least be somewhat intelligent. Wrong! From the time Frank (Sutherland's character) offed the daughter's fiance (in what is probably the funniest scene in the movie), it was official: this was one of those laughably bad films that fans of the genre crave.

It's not the best of the worst, but if you appreciate this sort of thing there's plenty to make you chortle and snicker. There's even an incestuous relationship (complete with an attempted rape) between father and daughter. And the ending- what a spectacular work of genius! It must have taken a true artist to think that one up. But poor Donald Sutherland! He's such a talented thespian (and U of T alum...yay!), it's a shame to see his gift go to waste acting in this type of movie, although if it was anyone else playing the part it probably wouldn't be nearly as funny.

Since her breakthrough role as Carrie's friend in the classic Brian De Palma CARRIE, Amy Irving has played a variety of roles, most noticeably her Oscar nominated turn in YENTL and her spirited turn in CROSSING DELANCEY. Donald Sutherland, never Oscar nominated, but definitely a should have been for ORDINARY PEOPLE, also has taken a lot of chances in his long career. Together you would expect a great chemistry and fireworks to light the screen. Sadly to say, this doesn't happen in this by the book thriller. Even stalwarts such as Christopher McDonald, Theodore Bikel and Graham Greene don't ignite any sparks. The scenery is gorgeous and the plot does take an unexpected twist towards the end, but all in all, director Jonathan Heap doesn't build enough tension and suspense to make this anything more than an okay thriller. McDonald's death scene is almost funny as one other reviewer notes and Greene's dispatch is cruelty to the max. Rider Strong (Cabin Fever) in his first role shows the potential talent he will realize in future films.
You can do worse, but you can definitely do better--catch Sutherland in THE PUPPET MASTERS or EYE OF THE NEEDLE; see IRVING in THE CONFESSION.

the service was good and accurate and i wish to do more with this seller in the future.

This by-the-numbers thriller is elevated by better than average direction by Jonathon Heap and the performance of Donald Sutherland, as a sly gentlemanly criminal recalling his Nazi undercover in Eye of the Needle. Here he is released from prison having been convicted of murdering his wife and now intent on rekindling a relationship with the daughter (Amy Irving) who testified against him. Irving appears to be slumming, playing the daughter as a foul-mouthed white trash waitress in a topless bar, but she adds nothing that any number of actors could bring to the part. Sutherland's first obstacle is to convince Amy that her mother's death was an accident, and once that is overcome, then he must confront anyone that threatens his idea of family, which includes Amy's gratuitous son. Heap actually makes Sutherland's pathology amusing in a perverse way, though we know what to expect when the father's first action is to smash in a window, since behaviour defines character. Sutherland looks heftier than usual though perhaps that's in direct ratio to Amy's anorexia, recalling her bulemic in Kleptomania. Location footage was done at the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in Arizona where we see beautifully eroded rock formations, and a cave with an eroded interior.