88:88 Minutes?! What kind of a stupid title is that?

about as dumb as the movie itself.

C


I usually dig serial killer movies like this, but 88 Minutes was really lacking. I mean they took a great concept and made such a mundane and unspecial film out of it. The idea could have turned the movie into something tense like Nick of Time, Phone Booth or Red Eye, but in the end it was nothing more than a pedestrian thriller.

It's not all terrible, but the fact that I could guess the big ending twist very easily about 15 minutes into the film speaks for itself. Neal McDonough delivers a nice, sleazy performance, but Al Pacino is overacting as usual. Leelee Sobieski is pretty terrible in her short role and the rsst of the cast is just not worth mentioning.

I know that my review actually sounds worse than the grade, but in the end, there were a couple of well-done moments and as I said, despite all flaws the concept kept me intrigued till the end of the film, even knowing about the upcoming twist. It's just much less than it could've been.

I'm not going to go, but it looks fucking hilarious.

Worst movie of the year, easily. I really truly believe that the script could have been the worst script ever. There was not one redeeming quality about this film. Even Pacino gives an awful performance. The only person that gave a half way decent performance was the dude from the OC and his character was completely useless. And you're not supposed to be able to guess the killer 15 minutes in. But they laid it down like a brick fucking road.

F-.

I pretty much agree with Lecter. He summed it up best so there isn't pretty much else to add except for that without Pacino I think this is pretty much a decent DTV film. With him you expect more and it just doesn't deliver. The acting is hammy and yet I didn't hate any of the performances. Amy Brennaman is good. Alicia Witt gives one of the most wooden performances to date but she's easy on the eyes. Leelee Sobieski isn't very good, but she's only in the film for about 10 minutes so she gets a pass somewhat. And Pacino is Pacino. Yeah he might have been sleepwalking through this, but his sleepwalking performances are better than most. And then there are some people who are just completely wasted. What is Deborah Unger doing here?

As for the story, I'm probably being very lenient but I don't have many problems with it. My biggest gripe with the film is that the killer is just too lame. You can't talk about the killer of course without giving it away, so I'll just put this in spoilers.



The journey to the finale is not bad though. It's a little dull, but there were parts that I liked. The MSNBC phone call was good as well as some other stuff inside Pacino's apartment (although it doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of building) and I liked the stuff at campus. There was also another good scene between Pacino and Witt inside of the cab. Everything else is just kind of boring though and that's why the film doesn't work. It's just not interesting. That's also why some people who might go to see this and try and get some laughs out of it, aren't going to be able to. There's just not much here that's unintentionally funny. Maybe it'll play differently on DVD.

Well that's it. The ending is lame, and the journey to it is a little bit boring, but it's not awful. I liked some of the performances (Brennaman and Pacino) and some people are just wasted. 88 Minutes is probably best viewed on DVD, but I wouldn't go in expecting much.........or to laugh.

**