Bruce
Boxleitner is happily married to Sela Ward with a good job as headmaster at a
posh boarding school. One day, his
mountain climbing ex (Rachel Ward) comes back into his life. Naturally, she worms her way into his
bed. When Bruce sees Rachel’s abusive
boyfriend sexually assaulting her, he is powerless to do anything. Somehow, she is able to fight back and kill
her attacker. Trouble brews once Sela (a
powerful attorney who is all but assured a position as a judge) takes Rachel’s
case.
This
Made for Showtime thriller is at its best when dealing with the moral ambiguity
of its characters. It’s about doing the
right thing for the wrong reasons and sometimes, doing the wrong thing for the
right reasons. It’s also one of those
deals where it starts off as a murder mystery before becoming a long courtroom
drama. It’s not bad; it’s just undone by
a predictable third act and an anticlimactic finale. (The mountain climbing scenes really drag it
down.)
Directed
by Lawrence (The Executioner’s Song) Schiller, Double Jeopardy is bolstered by
strong performances by the three leads. Boxleitner
is great as the poor schmuck who thinks with his dick in a moment of weakness
and winds up paying the price. Sela is
excellent, especially during the courtroom scenes, and really sinks her teeth
into the role. Rachel does a fine job as
the conniving vixen who’s using them both to get away with murder. We also get Sally Kirkland as a detective on
the case, Denice Duff (from the Subspecies movies) as a cog in Ward’s plot, and a
young Aaron Eckhart making his screen debut in a bit part.
No comments:
Post a Comment