DVD available at Amazon.com
Director:
Mikael Håfström
Cast:
Clive Owen……….Charles Schine
Jennifer Aniston……….Lucinda Harris
Vincent Cassel……….Philippe Laroche
RZA……….Winston Boyko
Xzibit……….Dexter
The Weinstein Company presents Derailed. Written by Stuart Beattie. Based on the novel by James Siegel. Running time: 112 minutes. Unrated.
The movie:
Derailed is not a documentary about awesome Hollywood stunts involving locomotives. Though, judging by the plot of the actual film a documentary may not have been so bad. Instead, we get a thriller-by-numbers. That’s not to say this thriller is the end all of the genre, but the story is nothing we haven’t seen before.
Clive Owen stars as Charles Schine. Charles is a family man living in the suburbs near Chicago. Like most people he has problems that keep his mind busy. Charles has lost his big account at the ad agency where he works. His daughter has Type 1 diabetes and her third kidney transplant has failed. In the first few minutes we see him hastily finishing a bowl of Corn Flakes so he can hurry up and catch a commuter train to work. Small problem: his wife borrowed money out of his wallet and now Charles doesn’t have enough to pay for his ticket. Lucky for him, a brunette bombshell with great legs, looking a lot like Jennifer Aniston, offers to pay his ticket.
Where one door closes, another opens. Because Charles missed his usual train, he was afforded the opportunity of talking to Lucinda (Jennifer Aniston), the brunette, for several more minutes. The two make a connection and much like Wimpy in the Popeye cartoons, Charles agrees to repay her tomorrow. Now, he may just want to appease karma, because one good deed deserves another. Or, maybe he wants to pay her just so he can meet her again. They exchange business cards. The next day they meet for lunch. Lunch becomes dinner. Dinner becomes a low-rent hotel, blocks away from more luxurious hotels in Chicago.
Charles and Lucinda both know why they went to the room. The inevitable chance at sex between the sheets is a good enough reason for anybody. Still, the two allude to the marriages they are leaving behind. Before Lucinda can get Charles’ pants down, a mugger with a hard French accent comes into the room, hits him with the butt of his gun and begins to rape Lucinda.
Regaining consciousness, Charles suggests the authorities be notified. However, the inevitable questions about this liaison – plus the fact that their significant others will learn of the affair – pretty much dampens any hope of filing a sexual assault report with the CPD. Groggy, Charles arrives home and tells his wife he worked late into the night and was mugged on his way home. The alibi is substantial for now, but the nightmare is far from over. The mugger, named Philippe (Vincent Cassel), has Charles’ wallet. Therefore, he knows his name, where he lives and his phone number. Knowing that Charles is married and Lucinda is too, he coerces them into blackmail. If his demands aren’t met, Philippe will notify their spouses.
While Charles may have a creative mind, he lacks the ability to think like a criminal. Good thing he has a friend at the ad agency that can help. Played by rap artist RZA, Winston is his name and he works in the mailroom. Winston has the real world experience Charles surely lacks. By real world I mean that of a criminal. A month after getting twenty grand Philippe comes calling again, this time asking for 100 thousand. As back up for the drop, Charles agrees to give Winston 10 percent of the extortion amount, making sure Philippe is no longer a thorn in his pocketbook.
Adapted from the best-selling novel by James Siegel, Derailed is a serviceable thriller that tries to be clever, but eventually turns into Charles Schine writing a wrong. Clive Owen has shown that he can be venomous (Closer) or tough (Sin City). As Charles Schine though, he seems sad. Like when he is eating his Corn Flakes in the beginning. His daughter is working on a book report. Daddy dearest offers suggestions, clearly knowing the material. An English major in college, perhaps. He probably wanted to be a teacher; his daughter’s diabetes forced him to give up that dream and pursue a career where money was the most important factor.
When the film opened in theaters the ads promoted Jennifer Aniston like you’ve never seen her before. She is intriguing as Lucinda, but Aniston hasn’t quite gotten away from her days on the set of Friends. Granted, she could have been this raging sexpot. That would have been a real eye-opener. The fact that Lucinda and Charles are uneasy about having sex seems as if they are normal human beings. Lonely commuters looking for excitement. Essentially stuck in relationships where they put others needs before their own, they look at sex as a way to forget their problems if only for a short while.
That’s fine if Derailed was intended to be a hopeless love story, but it’s a thriller. And, depending on your definition of a good thriller, the movie may work for you, or it may not. Had this been an original screenplay and not an adaptation, there are ways in which the plot could have jumped the tracks and taken us someplace we haven’t been before.
Score: 5/10
The DVD:
Special to this DVD is an unrated version of the film. This version contains an additional five minutes of footage that was not included when Derailed was released in theaters last fall. The cuts that were made have nothing to do with nudity. So don’t expect to see Jennifer Aniston like you’ve never seen her before.
THE VIDEO
(Presented in 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen)
Considering that Derailed is the first home video release by The Weinstein Company, one shouldn’t expect a flawless transfer. The video is solid, nonetheless. It is sharp, and colors seem on the money. The only complaint is some minor edge enhancement. Not bad for a first release.
Score: 7.5/10
THE AUDIO
(Dolby Digital 5.1)
The sound track, like the video transfer, is good if not outright spectacular. The dialogue, whether it is loud outbursts or expletive-filled discourse, comes in clear and is understandable. Sound effects like multiple gunshots or Philippe repeatedly punching Charles are adequately enhanced in your surrounding speakers.
Score: 7/10
SPECIAL FEATURES: EPK Friendly!!
The special features on the unrated version disc are the same as the regular, R-rated version. Each comes with three extras: deleted scenes, a short making-of, and the theatrical trailer.
There are three deleted scenes in all, each varying in length. The first scene, “Amy’s Sequence”, deals with Charles Schine’s daughter taking an experimental diabetes drug to help her kidneys. In the film, this drug is referenced as costing a lot of money. Taking his wife and daughter home Charles sees Philippe strolling on the sidewalk. Tension arises as Charles stealthily walks the perimeter of his house. “No More Dialysis” is a scene in which the Schines receive a phone call about the FDA approval of daughter Amy’s wonder drug. The last scene has Charles and wife Deanna sitting quietly in a hospital waiting room. Here, she tells him an important secret. Most of the deletions were warranted, but the last scene is an ethical quandary. Had it been included, it could have expanded the scope of the story.
The eight-minute behind-the-scenes look at Derailed has Owen, Aniston and Cassel, as well as the director and writer giving their thoughts on the characters and the film itself. It is an EPK style making-of that gives a synopsis of the story while outlining some of the major characters. Probably will only be watched once, maybe twice, if only to hear Vincent Cassel admit that rap stars Xzibit and RZA are bigger stars in France than Clive Owen or Jennifer Aniston.
Score: 3/10
| InsidePulse’s Ratings for Derailed | |
