Another weepie heart warming thriller with a neat twist and a good ol' boy performance by Tommy Lee Jones
That says it all, but I guess that I need to give a bit more value than that to earn my corn. However, the key facts are there for all to behold because 1999's Double Jeopardy showcases another neat performance by the master of the Redneck lawman role, Tommy Lee Jones, and Ashley Judd's performance as a wronged mother brings all the tears and pleas for righteous vengeance a floating rapidly to the surface, provoking a happy little tear in all its female audience as this film trickles to its happy ever after conclusion.
Double Jeopardy is built around the story of a really nasty piece of work art dealer who fakes his death at sea and frames his wife for the deed in order to run away with The Other Woman and collect his insurance premium. The long suffering wife, Libby Parsons, played by Judd, is convicted of the 'murder' and goes to prison, where by accident she finds out the truth of the matter and determines that she will win back her son and have some form of revenge. While she's in there she learns about the principle of double jeopardy, which put simply means that once convicted of the murder, the killer cannot be tried again if she was to then actually carry out the deed.
No person (shall) ... be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb ... – Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States
Really, that premise isn't really explored or employed in the reality of what happens here and in short Judd teams up with Jones to sort out a gorgeously satisfying revenge with just the right amount of tension woven into it at the end, with the evil doer finally getting his comeuppance.
Jones plays Travis Lehman, Libby’s parole officer who used to be a legal professor
It's put together quite neatly as an absorbing and totally believable little tale, although it's so typically American that it makes you want to punch it in the face, but succeeds despite itself with the win peaks of Judd and Jones rising above it all, even though the villain of the peace (played to perfection by Bruce Greenwood, previously best known for his part in the American hospital soap, St Elsewhere) actually gives the best performance of the lot, an absolute slimeball pits of humanity type you would quite happily flush down the toilet without a microsecond's thought.
I liked this film despite itself and despite going into it knowing absolutely that I was going to despise it for its All American-ness, its sordidly glossy scenes and predictability (apart from the tomb scene) and I'm pretty certain you will too. Going even further, women will enthusiastically adore it and burst into floods of tears at the end. Mrs D told me not to tell you that she cried at the heart warming end, but she bloody well did, honest...
Don’t go expecting a great deal from this film, so that you won’t be disappointed. It’s okay, but nothing very special, just an average way to spend 90 minutes or so. The theme, despite all the crap talked about the double jeopardy premise, is like The Fugitive Take 3, with Jones the lawman hotly pursuing the innocent killer, then helping him/her/it to prove their audience, but Judd’s a great deal easier on the eye than Harrison Ford as the bearded Dr Richard Kimble, although Mrs D doesn’t seem to agree.
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Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
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![Double Jeopardy - Dvd [2000]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78545905.jpg "Double Jeopardy - Dvd [2000]")
![Double Jeopardy [DVD] [1999]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78501094.jpg "Double Jeopardy [DVD] [1999]")
Sep 15th, 2001
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