Friday

I don't remember the cinema release of Double Jeopardy. I wouldn't be surprised if it went straight to video, at least in this country. It does have big stars, Tommy Lee Jones and Ashley Judd, but I think the problems start with the title itself. When I heard it I thought 'I've seen that before', and that's a terrible thing for a movie title to do. It should excite and inspire you. When I started watching it, however, I realised I hadn't seen it before. The plot, though, felt familiar: a woman's husband dies and she is accused of the murder. She is sent to prison, only to discover that he isn't actually dead. The film tries to encompass too much. The woman spends six years in prison. This is too heavy an experience to drift over in two minutes with a montage (which they do). It would've been better to begin the film with her emerging from prison. Then we could engage with her better. This movie is really not much more than a TV film. It is interested more in story (which would be ok if the story was fascinating), rather than in a way of telling that story. It has a strange mixture of happy and grim moments. Perhaps the director's hand was forced by producers but, overall, there is no excuse for anyone making a movie like this.