Changing Lanes
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Movie Reviews of Changing Lanes
Movie Review: A film about the fine line that we tread between leading our lives with the moral code and the rejection of this code at times.
Summary: 5 Stars
A gem of a movie hiding there in the shelves. After seeing the movie I truly could not understand why this movie did not make a splash. I never even heard of it until I saw it at the rentals. The movie basically has Ben Affleck playing a hotshot lawyer who on his way to a very important court case has a small accident with Samuel L Jackson who was on his way to the court as well to appear for his child custody case. Ben offers a blank check to Samuel citing he has to be some place and thus does not have the time to check and share insurance information. When Samuel does not accept the blank check and says he wants to do this the right way, Ben leaves the scene leaving Sam stranded without a ride. Samuel cries out to Ben for a ride and not to leave him there stranded. Ben disregards this and is off. Back at the court, Ben realises when he is arguing the case, that he can't produce a very important document (a power of appointment) given by a deceased client of the firm which gave Ben's law firm the power to be trustees and caretaker of the money left behind by the deceased guy. He realises he must have dropped it at the accident site (which Sam has picked up as good samaritan despite the harsh treatment he was given by Ben Affleck). Sam, due to the accident delay and due to not getting a timely ride to the court reaches late and as a result looses his right to say his piece before the judge and looses custody of the children. Ben then tries to get the power of appointment from Samuel. Being enraged on Ben for stranding him and thereby making him loose his childeren's custody, he refuses to return the document that Ben needs. Ben then uses the services of a guy who does network hacking jobs and gets Samuel's credit turned off. Sam thus gets refused a loan which he needed desperately to buy a house with, to persuade his estranged wife to live with him so he can be close to the childeren. Samuel now gets further enraged and then makes it a mission to make life tough for Ben. Samuel tears up certain parts of power of appointment, threatens to destroy the book if the credit is not turned on. Ben tries to get it turned back but the hacker guy is not able to reverse it, Samuel is further enraged and sabotages Ben's car by loosening the wheels. Ben nearly gets killed. This draws a response from Ben. Ben then calls Samuel Saying his boys have been kidnapped while informing the School that an unstable man will try to run away with this childern. A Distraught Samuel goes to the School in concern for his children which is misread by the School as a father who is trying to kidnap his children. So right from the accident, it's a case of Ben and Sam one-upping each other and trying to view the other with harmful intent and each end up doing things that they would otherwise normally not do. It basically showcases the depths to which a normal noble law abiding logical person can sink to and how easily in a second he can chose to give up the very moral fibre by which he lived his life all along and how this can be brought about by a single seemingly unimportant incident which can have meaningful negative consequences for a person. This is a film about the fine line that we tread between leading our lives with the moral code or making an exception and sometimes doing the immoral thing. I believe each of us who see this movie can relate to this movie because no one can claim to be saint. We all in our past, be it small instances and incidences, have made some choices which we saw as right and just and correct in the heat of the moment but when the spite and anger over the situation passes we find ourselves questioning our very own actions which we thought were justifiable and correct beyond a shadow of doubt at an earlier point in time.
regards, Vikram
Movie Review: One of the Most Underrated Movies in Years
Summary: 5 Stars
South African director Roger Michell directs this hit suspense thriller starring Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson. Michell is actually very skilled and has a tremendous amount of mainstream appeal. He also directed last years Venus, which was another solid film albeit very different from Changing Lanes. Ben Affleck plays Gavin, a successful Wall Street attorney who must file a power of appointment for his company, which is run by his father-in-law played by Sydney Pollack. The document will sign a company over to his law firm and that company is owned by a dying man. Ethical questions certainly surround the document and as things unfold we find out even more. Doyle is played by Samuel L. Jackson, he is an insurance salesman and a recovering alcoholic who wants badly to restore his family before his wife takes his children away to the west coast. We get the feeling that Doyle is a wounded man and his actions are unacceptable at times. Actually both characters are deeply flawed and that is what makes their collision so engaging.
On his way to court to file this crucial document, Gavin gets into a car accident with Doyle. He doesn't prioritize the accident and instead must leave the scene to make it to court on time. Doyle's car will not drive and he is in the middle of a highway median when Gavin takes off in a rush. It of course begins to rain. Doyle himself was on his way to court and when he eventually gets there he finds out that he is too late. His goal was to surprise his wife with a mortgage loan he just received so his family would stay. He was attempting to get some resolution to whatever chaos he may have caused his family before this movie begins. Unfortunately for Gavin the power of appointment was left at the scene of the accident and is in Doyle's possession. Doyle, sour for being left in the rain on the highway and missing his chance in court, refuses to give Gavin the document. Needless to say they both have reasonable vendettas against one another and the battle they have escalates throughout as the film goes forward. These two men are basically dehumanized to one another and it doesn't help matters that they both come from entirely different worlds. They are opposites in life, so they are fundamentally opposed to one another when the first sign of conflict surfaces. It turns out that Changing Lanes evolves into a unique commentary on the darkest sides of human nature. It is unique because we visit these dark decisions by way of likeable and real character portrayals. To avoid spoilers, I won't reveal anymore than I have already.
Samuel L. Jackson is obviously an outstanding actor and he is great here but the most surprising thing is Ben Affleck matches him and then some. It's a shame Ben's reputation as an actor was so horrible at the time Changing Lanes came out because his performance definitely deserved some praise. Sydney Pollack is also outstanding as an exceptionally believable and accessible villain. A lot of the credit goes to the screenplay here for exposing pragmatic reactions to specific circumstances instead of superficial morality. There are no purely ethical and moral figures in Changing Lanes, but then again I can't think of too many in real life either. If they did exist in Changing Lanes then its commentary would be disrupted completely, but I still held out hoping reason would creek into the picture. Chaos reigns here and humanity is called upon to prevail. It puts suspense on a much larger societal scale for me. I know that the ending bothered those hoping for something more retributive but try to see Changing Lanes as a story about healing, not revenge.
Movie Review: A Film With a Positive Message
Summary: 5 Stars
Director Roger Michell scored big with "Notting Hill," a feel good movie about love in which the unlikely pairing of film superstar Julia Roberts and impoverished book store proprietor Hugh Grant resulted in gloriously unselfish love. "Changing Lanes" is a drama about greed tugging at the soul of society and how one young man responds, producing another feel good movie of sorts by the film's finale.Ben Affleck is a "What Makes Sammy Run?" style lawyer from New York who at the tender age of 29 has already made it to partner level in the highly successful firm run by his father-in-law, played by prominent director and talented character actor Sydney Pollack. On his way to court and an important probate hearing for control of the foundation previously headed by a now deceased, wealthy entrepreneur-philanthropist, the young man in a hurry becomes involved in a fender bender with Samuel L. Jackson.
The fender bender has a major impact on both drivers. Jackson, an insurance salesman fighting a battle against alcohol addiction, misses a crucial custody hearing involving his wife and children. His wife is slated to move to Oregon and seeks to take Jackson's children with her while, through great effort, he has managed to string together a deal for a fixer-upper house, hoping this will keep her in New York and prompt her to drop her divorce action against him. The accident makes him late for the hearing as full custody is granted to his wife. He does not get to make his case.
Affleck suffers in a different way. In the mixup following the accident Affleck leaves behind the all-important file containing the signature of the dying philanthropist granting the law firm for which the young lawyer works total control of the foundation's money. This crucial document ends up in Jackson's hands.
When Affleck through happenstance manages to see Jackson on the street and seeks help, the angry insurance salesman lets him know what he thinks of his discourtesy and indifference to his plight, reminding him that he fled the scene of the accident. When Affleck plays hardball and has Jackson's credit ruined through employing a skilled Internet hacker, his tough adversary fights back on his own terms.
After the action has escalated to an accelerated level the two adversaries develop a respect for each other and begin to recognize that in such a situation an ethical solution is the best course for both of them.
Affleck grows up in a hurry, facing the blunt truth that in securing the signature of a dying man no longer in control of his faculties he has engaged in fraud on behalf of the firm. When he expresses his misgivings to Pollack, he is bluntly told to wise up and do his job. Pollack states that the philanthropist used some shady methods to acquire his fortune, and that is the way the game is played in the corporate and professional big leagues, in a take no prisoners manner with moral qualms left behind. To do less is to lose the race.
At the film's end Affleck is a changed man who is able to turn the tables on Pollack in a clever manner. He will no longer be a hired gun who abandons ethical considerations in the pursuit of more money and fame.
Movie Review: Finally, a thriller taking place in New York City with no guns and no shooting.
Summary: 5 Stars
CHANGING LANES is a film taking place in contemporary New York City. Already, because of the location of New York City, this movie has won my favor. I tend to like movies taking place in New York City, for example, AS GOOD AS IT GETS; KING KONG (2005); 13 GOING ON 30; ON THE TOWN; and THE APARTMENT (with Jack Lemmon & Shirley Maclaine).
The movie has three concurrent themes:
First, Ben Affleck is a bright young attorney, and a partner in a law firm. However, he has second thoughts regarding the ethics of winning a lawsuit against a charitable foundation. We have seen this ethical dilemma before, for example, in REGARDING HENRY with Harrison Ford. In REGARDING HENRY, a lawfirm wins a lawsuit on behalf of a hospital, but after a brain injury, Harrison Ford (playing an attorney) has second thoughts, and takes action to have the decision reversed.
The second concurrent theme in CHANGING LANES is a divorce where the wife takes custody of her 2 children and plans to move across the country with them to Oregon, leaving the ex-husband bereft and on the verge of complete despair. We have seen films showing divorces involving families with children, for example, KRAMER v. KRAMER, and so on. I also was glad to see actress Kim Staunton in the role of the ex-wife. I was glad because she looks like a real, typical member of the human race (she does not resemble Hollywood's usual version of how a black, adult woman should look like).
The third concurrent theme is unique. The third theme takes the form of a cat-and-mouse game, where Ben Affleck attempts to acquire a legal document that he'd accidently lost, and that had been picked up and toted around by a common insurance man played by Samuel L. Jackson. On a few occasions, Ben Affleck is about to recover his document (but doesn't recover it). On a couple of occasions Samuel L. Jackson is about to voluntarily transfer the document to Ben Affleck (but doesn't transfer it), and on a couple of occasions, he discards the document (but he recovers it from the trash). But each time, fate gets in the way. The result is a continuing series of setbacks for Mr.Affleck. Samuel Jackson plays a man who is a decent fellow who, unfortunately, allows commonplace stresses to get the best of him. He gets into a fistfight in a tavern. He smashes a computer in a bank. He sabotages Mr.Affleck's automobile resulting in a wheel falling off on the freeway. He causes a disruption in his childrens' school in his attempt to get near his children, after the divorce. CHANGING LANES is brilliant for its subtle depiction of the characters played by Mr.Affleck and Mr.Jackson. Neither character is depicted entirely as a good guy or as a bad guy. The characters are fraught with ambiguity. The only thing that holds steady in this movie is Mr.Jackson's love for his children, and hope that the ex-wife does not re-locate them in Oregon.
P.S. The movie has a happy ending.
Movie Review: A thoughtful film about two guys not thinking straight
Summary: 5 Stars
Any thoughts that "Changing Lanes" would be a predictable film should have gone out the window as soon as you saw Samuel L. Jackson was involved. The story is about two men who do not have time for a freeway fender bender. Gavin Banek (Ben Affleck) is a lawyer who has some important papers to file to prove an ailing millionaire signed over control of his foundation to Banek's law firm. Doyle Gipson (Jackson), also has to get to court so he can show he got approved for a loan to buy a house so that his wife will not move with his two sons to Oregon. The accident itself is really nobody's fault, but everything that happens after words in this escalating war of words and deeds can be laid at the feet of Gavin and Doyle, who dive off into the deep end.The movie ads proclaimed "One wrong turn deserves another," and it helps set the audience up for the carnage these two reap on each other's lives as their frustrations give way to anger. They have good reason to be frustrated: Doyle gets to court too late and his last chance to keep his family together is gone; Gavin arrives at court only to discover he has left the most important document behind. It turns out that this document is so important that not having it can put him and the bosses at his firm, including his father-in-law, in prison. These are two men whose lives have come to major crossroads. This is news to Gavin, but the impact is not less than it is on Doyle.
The trailer for "Changing Lanes" emphasizes the horrible things these two men manage to do to each other during the course of what is clearly the worst days of their lives. Gavin uses a computer wizard to destroy Doyle's credit rating. Doyle loosen the bolts on the wheel of Gavin's car. If somebody does not end up dead by the end of this film, then we are all going to be very much surprised. But that is what makes this film worth watching is that it is surprising, as when Gavin and Doyle both discover the true value of the lives they have been trying to lead are found in the women they have married (Amanda Peet and Kim Stauton respectively).
Ultimately, it is the ability of the script by Chap Taylor and Michael Tolkin to surprises us and lifts "Changing Lanes" above the standard Hollywood tale of urban violence. These two men could be cartoonish figures, but they become fully developed characters; not because of what they do to each other, but because of what they articulate about their lives in talking to others. Gavin confesses to his former mistress (Toni Collette) while Doyle bare his soul to his AA sponsor (William Hurt). In their initial conversation after the accident Gavin and Doyle are too worried about where they should be to have a civil conversation. Their next words are insults that they shout (and fax). But the film holds the promise that once these two men hit rock bottom that they might final turn on one another and talk.