Certain events may be random, but their effect on the people they touched are not. The random event serves as a catalyst to enhance psychological and social conditions that have always been part of these people. In some cases the end results are perilously close to getting out of control. The event referred to is a random shooting in a diner by a psychopath. The movie however is not a study of the traumatic effect on the survivors (although it does look like one initially). What it does is to intensify, heighten and sharpen the problem they already have.
The case of the waitress (Kate Beckinsale) is perhaps the simplest and most common. Here we have a single mother who is too young and pretty to be tied down by a consistently crying baby. But as her tolerance shrinks, the baby becomes a useful excuse for her to make romantic approaches to Doctor Laraby (Guy Pearce) who has treated some of the victims (both physical and emotional, including herself) of the shooting. Disappointingly for her, the doctor's mind is elsewhere.
The doctor's situation is more complex. He is often troubled by his inability to save lives even though his buddy colleague keeps telling him that doctors are not God and there is a limit to what they can do. By sheer chance, he was at the crime scene just before it happened, buying a cup of coffee and even holding the door for the murderer to enter. Failure to save one of the victims sent to his hospital hit him really hard. To compensate for his feeling of insecurity, he administers to his wife (whom he loves) medication that, while treating certain symptoms, has a side effect of creating others (e.g. migrant). That way, he derives a sense of security from his wife always looking towards him as her saviour.
The man whom the doctor has failed to save was in the diner with his young daughter Anne (Dakota Fanning) her friend Jimmy (Josh Hutcherson). Losing the father in a random shooting is of course traumatic but the girl seems to have a nerve of steel, fortified by an evangelical religious zeal. She starts talks about her father's heroic bravery, first to small group, then larger assemblies. But the truth is bottled up inside her.
Jimmy has his own domestic problems. Introvert and timid, he has a brother in a coma from action in the Iran War and parents who simply do not understand him, as most parents with kids in early teens do. His is probably the worse trauma, with the gun pointed at his head as he and Anne were hiding under the table. What is most fatal, however, is Anne calling upon him to witness (in a religious sense) together with her the father's heroic bravery.
The true hero is a compulsive gambler (Forest Whitaker) who could have been shot fatally but gets away with a scratch. Believing that luck is on his side, he lunches into a stint of desperate gambling, gets involved with loan sharks, and then more gambling, all this time with his daughter (Jennifer Hudson) frantically looking for him. While his story is not intended to provide comical relief or balance, it is comparatively lighter, and comes even with a twist that will get a chuckle.
On performance, Beckinsale's role is so commonplace that on the surface it offers little challenge. On the other hand, this makes the portrayal that much more difficult, and Beckinsale is convincing, which says a lot. Whitaker's versatility is amply demonstrated in his role here which cannot be more different from his Oscar winning performance as a psychopathic despot. As a compulsive gambler, he maintains an excellent balance between comedy and pathos. Pearce's is the most awkward role, lacking a clear indication of how much depth is there, psychologically speaking. Going into early teen-hood, Fanning continues to be eerily mesmerizing to watch. Hutcherson, who has been impressive in "Bridge to Terabithia" (2007), continues to show promises. In addition to these main characters, there is a large ensemble cast - aforementioned Jennifer Hudson, plus Jeanne Tripplehorn, Embeth Davidtz, Troy Garity, Jackie Earle Haley and others giving solid support.
This is not a movie that is entertaining in the conventional way, but satisfying to an appreciative audience.
The case of the waitress (Kate Beckinsale) is perhaps the simplest and most common. Here we have a single mother who is too young and pretty to be tied down by a consistently crying baby. But as her tolerance shrinks, the baby becomes a useful excuse for her to make romantic approaches to Doctor Laraby (Guy Pearce) who has treated some of the victims (both physical and emotional, including herself) of the shooting. Disappointingly for her, the doctor's mind is elsewhere.
The doctor's situation is more complex. He is often troubled by his inability to save lives even though his buddy colleague keeps telling him that doctors are not God and there is a limit to what they can do. By sheer chance, he was at the crime scene just before it happened, buying a cup of coffee and even holding the door for the murderer to enter. Failure to save one of the victims sent to his hospital hit him really hard. To compensate for his feeling of insecurity, he administers to his wife (whom he loves) medication that, while treating certain symptoms, has a side effect of creating others (e.g. migrant). That way, he derives a sense of security from his wife always looking towards him as her saviour.
The man whom the doctor has failed to save was in the diner with his young daughter Anne (Dakota Fanning) her friend Jimmy (Josh Hutcherson). Losing the father in a random shooting is of course traumatic but the girl seems to have a nerve of steel, fortified by an evangelical religious zeal. She starts talks about her father's heroic bravery, first to small group, then larger assemblies. But the truth is bottled up inside her.
Jimmy has his own domestic problems. Introvert and timid, he has a brother in a coma from action in the Iran War and parents who simply do not understand him, as most parents with kids in early teens do. His is probably the worse trauma, with the gun pointed at his head as he and Anne were hiding under the table. What is most fatal, however, is Anne calling upon him to witness (in a religious sense) together with her the father's heroic bravery.
The true hero is a compulsive gambler (Forest Whitaker) who could have been shot fatally but gets away with a scratch. Believing that luck is on his side, he lunches into a stint of desperate gambling, gets involved with loan sharks, and then more gambling, all this time with his daughter (Jennifer Hudson) frantically looking for him. While his story is not intended to provide comical relief or balance, it is comparatively lighter, and comes even with a twist that will get a chuckle.
On performance, Beckinsale's role is so commonplace that on the surface it offers little challenge. On the other hand, this makes the portrayal that much more difficult, and Beckinsale is convincing, which says a lot. Whitaker's versatility is amply demonstrated in his role here which cannot be more different from his Oscar winning performance as a psychopathic despot. As a compulsive gambler, he maintains an excellent balance between comedy and pathos. Pearce's is the most awkward role, lacking a clear indication of how much depth is there, psychologically speaking. Going into early teen-hood, Fanning continues to be eerily mesmerizing to watch. Hutcherson, who has been impressive in "Bridge to Terabithia" (2007), continues to show promises. In addition to these main characters, there is a large ensemble cast - aforementioned Jennifer Hudson, plus Jeanne Tripplehorn, Embeth Davidtz, Troy Garity, Jackie Earle Haley and others giving solid support.
This is not a movie that is entertaining in the conventional way, but satisfying to an appreciative audience.