88 Minutes

You can't help but wonder what's up with Al Pacino. With all of the mediocre movies he's put out in the last few years is his best work behind him? Pacino still entertains in some manner no matter what he does, even if its one small moment in an over-the-top performance. Thankfully he isn't over-the-top in '88 Minutes' but that doesn't mean the movie is any good. Rather than playing a wide-eyed loud mouth old man like in 'Heat' and 'Devil's Advocate' he's the quiet and tired old man of 'People I Know' and 'The Merchant of Venice'. (Shylock is my name, my name is Shylock). As FBI Forensic psychiatrist and University Professor Jack Gramm, Pacino finds himself in hot water when he begins receiving phone calls from a mysterious voice telling him he has 88 minutes to live. Gramm achieved notoriety when his testimony put serial killer John Forster (Neal McDonough) behind bars. Though he was suspected of coaching the testimony of Forster's only surviving victim, Gramm lives with a clean conscience and is respected by the department as well as his students.

On the day that Forster is scheduled to be executed, Gramm begins receiving those phone calls from a mystery man who sounds like the brother of Jigsaw from the 'Saw' series. Seems like the voice has a lot of time on his hands--always updating Gramm on how much tie he has left even when he uses someone elses phone. On top of that a copycat murder matching Forster's m.o. has been committed and the victim is one of Gramm's students who was last seen at a party with him the night before. Before you can say the word 'frame', the FBI begins to suspect Gramm's involvement when its clearly obvious he's being set-up to suggest Forster is innocent before he can be executed. With the help of his assistant Kim (Alicia Witt) and his lesbian secretary (Amy Brenneman), Gramm begins to literally run around the city with a cell phone in hand trying to make a mediocre story seem suspenseful.

If you're riding the subway and see a peddler selling a pirate dvd of this movie don't be surprised. The film was released in theaters and on dvd a year ago and the American version only features a new opening. One of the biggest problems of '88 minutes' is the fact that it was directed by Jon Avnet who knows little about the job because he's primarily been a producer. It seems like every ten minutes the style of the film resorts to black and white flashbacks, zoom ins and slow-motion, as different members of the cast are suspected by Pacino of being the killer. Supporting players like Ben McKenzie, Leelee Sobieski and William Forsythe are all more than capable actors, but appear to be merely window dressing waiting for Pacino to dominate their scenes, which he does.

The pacing of the film is off too. Though this sounds like a real-time thriller with a ticking clock, Pacino doesn't appear to be in any real hurry. He's not really racing for his life or some antidote to a poison he's been slipped and even has the time to sit in his apartment and tell Witt about the murder of his sister years earlier. There's little surprising in the story, including the identity of the killer because by the time that's revealed you don't really care. Pacino himself appears surprised by very little in the film except in an early scene where he awakens to find one night stand Leah Cairns performing a one-legged yoga pose while brushing her teeth in a mirror completely naked. That's an eye-opener for fans of Cairns' 'Battlestar Galactica' character "Racetrack" but not a big enough incentive to pay to see this movie.