NMR: The Next Three Days

Despite the star power of Russell Crowe, this film came and went from theaters last fall with little fanfare. Blame it on a rather dull and uninteresting film that couldn't be bailed out by decent acting. Written and directed by Paul Haggis, this movie took out all the interesting elements of a prison break movie. By having the plotting done by someone from the outside, none of the creativity or intelligence that comes with creating such a plan is displayed. Another major flaw is having the story jump three years after Crowe's wife (played by Elizabeth Banks) is arrested. The jump seemed to be a cop out because had we gone through watching her trial, we would have seen how flimsy of a case there was against her, which would have killed the story's credibility. It also doesn't help matters that Banks and Crowe are a mismatch and thus there's no motivation on the audience's part to really see them reconnect. The film picks up in the final act with some decent tension, but by that point it had pretty much frittered away any goodwill. As more of the best picture nominees start coming out for rental, there will be certainly bettter options than this if you're looking for a good film to watch on a Saturday night. You can skip this one unless you want to feel like you've been watching a movie for three days. Rating: **