I think I must be cursed. I'm not sure that I can think of another reason that I would have chosen two movies for the first installments of "Scene Selections" that are just … well, no, I'll get there later.
Let's look at "88 Minutes." Perhaps the first thing you might notice, or at least cleverly look for, is to see if the film is actually 88 minutes long.
I'll save you the fine print: It's not. It's 105 minutes long. Ack, more Hollywood lies, I know. But, at least this lie has Al Pacino in it! (I really like Pacino - the movie, eh - but by God do I enjoy the Pacino factor.)
So, OK, the film isn't 88 minutes long, who cares? It is just a two-word synopsis about Jack Gramm (Pacino), a man who gets a phone call from a chilling voice informing him that he has only 88 minutes to live.
Sounds like a simple premise, right? Well, I guess not, because the actors (besides Pacino - he can do no wrong) manage to make his last 88 minutes feel like the whole 105.
The cast isn't full of newbies, either, yet it's not exactly chock-full of grade A actors (But did I mention that Al Pacino is in it?).
It co-stars Leelee Sobieski (Lauren Douglas), Amy Brenneman (ShellyBarnes), Deborah Kara Unger (Carol Lynn Johnson), Benjamin McKenzie (Mike Stempt), William Forsythe (Frank Parks) and Neal McDonough (Jon Forster).
You probably don't recognize many, if any, of those names. That's because they are the actors you always see in tons of movies but can never remember who they are.
Well, they show up here, too, and you still won't remember them. So the acting isn't great. Let's talk about the story. I'm writing this and trying to think of the best way to summarize it without boring you, so I'll just put it this way: if you ever wondered what it would be like to watch Al Pacino talk on his cell phone and yell every once in a while, for 105 minutes to be exact, that is "88 Minutes" (did your brain just explode from that concept?).
Behind that is where the meat and potatoes of the plot are. Gramm is a forensic psychiatrist and professor in Seattle, who just happens to have helped condemn a serial killer (McDonough, you'll recognize him for sure) to receive his death sentence.
Nine years later, and on the scheduled day of execution, Gramm receives the first of the threatening phone calls, most of them ending with, "Tick-tock, doc, tick-tock."
For the rest of the movie, Gramm gets to try and figure out who is trying to kill him and who is killing those around him - with updates every five minutes reminding him (and us) just how long he has left.
This is where Pacino shines. He doesn't freak out and call 9-1-1 (that might be the only call he doesn't make, in fact) or try to get out of town, oh no.
Instead, he trusts nobody while still holding the trust of everybody else around him, even after suspicions arise as to whether he is a murderer himself.
Pacino certainly pulls off the role of a psychiatrist, questioning everything overtly, and all the while he does it with great style and amazingly poufy hair.
The bottom line here, folks, is that if you like Al Pacino, it is a given that you check out "88 Minutes."
All bad acting and cliches aside, it isn't a terrible film. Then again, and God forbid, if you don't like Al Pacino, skip this one.
The suspense is there, and the "who-done-it" mystery will hold you for a little while, just certainly not 88 minutes (Oops, I meant 105.). Tick-tock, IUP, tick-tock. 5/10.
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