Charisma and Wacky Hair

88 Minutes opened yesterday, and I’m still trying to decide what to make of it. Directed by Jon Avnet, 88 Minutes stars Al Pacino as a forensic psychiatrist that receives a phone call telling him he only has 88 minutes to live. The movie, however, is way longer than 88 minutes, so if you’re looking for a real-time thriller (Nick of Time, anyone?), go look somewhere else. In fact, if you’re looking for a thriller, period, you should probably go look somewhere else as well.

I thought the movie was entertaining because it made me laugh. Then again, 88 Minutes is supposed to be a serious thriller, so riotous laughter probably wasn’t the intended effect. At first, I tried to just go with it and accept the different turns of events. However, the script progressed (regressed, more like) from one unlikely development to the next. Characters that conveniently show up when they’re supposed to. Revelations that conveniently come when needed. Leaps of logic that can hardly be counted as such because there was no logic to begin with. Character motivation so hazy and nebulous that feels unbelievable if not outright ludicrous. Risible red herrings that fool no one. And the list goes on and on and on. At some point, my friend Michelle and I started to just laugh every time something unexplainable or just plain idiotic happened (which was every couple of minutes), and we had a great time pointing out Pacino’s wild, crazy hair throughout the whole film. Still, Pacino radiates this beaming charisma that is hard to resist, and he was surrounded by a veritable army of hotties (Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski, Leah Cairns, Deborah Kara Unger, Amy Brenneman, Kristina Copeland, Michal Yannai, Carrie Genzel) so not everything was a complete waste. So I confess: I had a good time watching the movie, but, unfortunately, that joy didn’t come from the quality of the film, but quite the opposite. Therefore, my sage advice to you, dear readers, is that you don’t give 88 Minutes even a fraction of that time. You're welcome.