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March 2006
DERAILED (Unrated Widescreen) |
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By Kam Williams
|
It doesnıt take long for Charles Schine (Clive Owen) and Lucinda Harris (Jennifer Aniston) to come to regret the fateful morning they met on the train. First, the two con artists forge a fast-friendship after Charles jokes about his questionable ethics as an advertising executive (³I con housewives.²) while Lucinda is just as flip about her own immoral behavior as a Financial Advisor (³I cheat clients.²). They start sitting next to each other regularly during their daily commute downtown from suburban Chicago and, soon, sparks begin to fly. Instead of discussing deceiving their clients, the conversation ventures to the subject of deceiving their spouses. Both subtly hint that they might be interested in an extra-marital affair, and eventually their flirtatious behavior escalates to an evening rendezvous for drinks. Alcohol inflames passions to the point where they rent a room in a seedy hotel, but what happens next, turns their plans for infidelity into a never-ending nightmare. For even before they get a chance to consummate their illicit liaison, a feloniously-inclined Frenchman (Vincent Cassel) breaks in, beats up Charles, and rapes Lucinda. Worse, the sadistic creep issues a demand for hush-money, threatening to in to inform their partners unless they come up with a substantial amount of cash. Unfortunately, Derailed runs downhill rather rapidly after setting up this intriguing premise. The filmıs fatal flaws reside in its preponderance of preposterous plot twists along with an absence of a protagonist one is inclined to root for, since neither of these shameless philanderers proves to be particularly endearing. An amoral thriller strictly for those ready to see adultery as a cause celebre. |
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