Changing Lanes

Rating:
Summary: CHANGING LANES= A FREEWAY IN THE END!!
Review: 'Changing Lanes', has the makings of a great film. It kept me interested most of the way. Here we have two men from the opposite end of the humanities spectrum crashing into each other and uprooting their agendas, which are the basis of life to them at this time.

As one breaks the covenant of how we treat ourselves and others and the consequences of breaking that covenant, then we ignite the hatred that lies just beneath the surface. And the vendettas are our only means to get even.

This was a good and interesting premise But the ending was like all of Hollywood movie endings. And, excuse me, but, how do we get from all the hate these two men have for each other, their evil deeds they let-loose on each other...how can you sum it up in the end that Roger Mitchell give us and walk away feeling like you just saw something great or something the director, (in the end felt guilty about) and says, " oh erase the first part and lets fade to" it was all a mistake.

Don't get me wrong the movie is worth seeing. Samuel L. Jackson (Doyle) gives a great performance as does Kim Staunton, (his wife Valerie) she gives a stunning tirade on why she and the kids are leaving, him,(Doyle) She tells him that he is hung-up, not on booze, but, on chaos, and chaos follows him and touches everyone around him. His mentor in AA( William Hurt) tells him the same thing.

Ben Affleck(Gavin) is the well-to-do-lawyer who actually breaks the covenant of a mans bond to another man, by leaving Doyle at the scene of the accident with the words"better luck next time". Both men are due in court,Gavin to file papers for a trust foundation (legality in question) and Doyle for a hearing to have visiting rights of his two sons.l You are going to have to wrestle with the ending in your own way.
ciao yaaah69

Rating:
Summary: pretty good performances but nothing outstanding here...
Review: here is another example of hollywood's royal treatment on what could have been an otherwise okay film. i will give this a fairly good rating of four stars as the performances are acceptable although nothing here is of oscar caliber unfortunately. samuel jackson did far better work in my opinion with his indies from spike lee, tarantino, or ms.lemmons than what he displayes here in changing lanes. hollywood has a way of taking a merely formulaic idea at best and blowing it way out of proportion. changing lanes in basically your average film of chances, missed opportunites, and feeling cheated perhaps by fate and/or circumstance. the viewer will notice almost right away in the early portion of the film how pathetic or ludicrous all the main characters really are and it should be blatantly obvious that we have no real characters to root for. however, the edning could redeem this hollywood blunder and should satisfy most filmgoers as it's a bit unpredictable which is more than i can say for the rest of this film. basically, changing lanes is nothing more than training day for lawyers only this film is slightly better in fleeting moments. affleck and jackson both need to go back to independent film industry and forget good old mainstream hollywood. for better performances from samuel jackson, check out his supporting role in jungle fever or the obvious winning role in pulp fiction.

Rating:
Summary: It is a crime to make movies this bad
Review: Yet another masterpiece that everybody is praising. Starring Ben Affleck(who plays a hotshot lawyer and whose long chin and bad acting always get on my nerves) and Samuel Jackson( who plays divorced father of two). Ben is supposed to be in court and so is Samuel. They get in the traffic accident and when Ben wants to just give Samuel a check because he is in a hurry, Samuel wouldn't take it because he wants everything to be "just right"(whatever the hell that means). Ben decides the hell with this and leaves. Samuel is late for court and because it was for a custody hearing, judge awards custody to his wife. He is royally pissed. Then, we go back to Ben who realizes he left an important document in Samuel car. Okay, Ben is pissed too. He tries to track down the other guy who promptly tells Ben to go to hell. Shortly thereafter he realizes that there is some fun to be had at Ben's expense and sends him a fax(although how he gets Ben's number is not explained) indicating he has the document and is not giving it back. Ben, who is pissed beyond belief decides to have some revenge and hires a hacker to screw Samuel's credit history. Next step, Samuel unscrews the wheel of Ben's car making a serious car accident a sure thing. Ben has the stage at this point and he threatens Samuel's kids. And so it goes. Oh, somewhere in the middle, Ben discovers that his boss(who is also his father-law) is a crook and he has to do some serious soul searching which almost made me lose my lunch(it was that painful to watch). Of course, at the end, everybody does the right thing-meaning that both men stop acting like lunatics and try to make amends. To say that it was boring, would be an understatement. To say that it was a good movie would be a crime against humanity

Rating:
Summary: Much more to it than there first appears to be
Review: Changing Lanes pulls a fast one on you. No, I'm not talking about a shocking plot twist. What I mean is that it lets you think that it's a tale of the vengeance that two men inflict on one another after a traffic accident causes more trouble than they could have imagined, but really it's much more than that. It's about self-preservation, and how much a man is willing to do to protect himself, even if it means hurting someone else.

The two men are Gavin Baneck (Ben Affleck) and Doyle Gipson (Samuel L. Jackson). Gavin, a Wall Street lawyer, is on his way to a court hearing to prove that he acted on behalf of a client and not out of self-interest, which would put him in jail - and he's got the paperwork to prove it. Doyle is also on his way to a hearing to prove that he should retain joint custody of his two young children, because he's a recovering alcoholic and is about to buy a home for all of them to live in.

When they get into the accident, Gavin leaves Doyle stranded, saying, "Better luck next time," but he also leaves behind a file that is crucial to his hearing. By the time Doyle makes it to his appointment, it's already over and sole custody has been rewarded to his ex-wife. Gavin, not wanting to be the one who screws over himself and his partners, does everything in his power to get back that file from Doyle, which includes bankrupting him. He doesn't want to hurt him, but if he doesn't get that file to the courthouse by the end of the day, he's probably going to jail for a long time. However, Doyle, acting irrationally because he's scared of losing his kids, is unwilling to cooperate, and things quickly escalate, leaving both men wounded and questioning themselves.

What makes this film work so well is that while the premise may not be probable, it is entirely plausible. We get the feeling that these are real people, at first struggling to save their own hides, but then later struggling to figure out what went so wrong in the first place, and how to go back and fix it.

I found myself wondering what I would do if put in the same situation, and I really hope that I would be a saint about it, but the truth is that I really don't know. In movies, everybody likes to see good guys defeating bad guys, but the real world doesn't work like that; it's just a bunch of flawed humans trying to figure out the point of it all and trying to become the good guy. Changing Lanes knows this, and that's why it gets my approval.

Rating:
Summary: Staying Lame
Review: A better title for this cheap-budget film is "Staying Lame," since it is nothing more than a shell of a plot featuring two well-known actors. When I say actors, I may be stretching it a bit, since Samuel L. gives a wooden performance every time, while Ben "Good Will Hunting" Affleck performed best as J Lo's arm candy.

But the movie is a pitiful back-and-forth revenge saga, unbelievable, reminiscent of a ping-pong match. It is a "The Firm" wannabe, a Bruce Willis entendre copy and not worth the $4 it cost to rent from your local video rental store.

Hopefully, one day, both main actors will go to acting school, or better yet, stop making movies altogether. But then, there is always the remake of "Gone Fishin'" starring Danny Glover and Joe Pesci that would be perfect for Sammy and Benny. That, or both could act together inside the Jaba the Hutt costume in the final prequel of Star Wars.

Just don't expect me to rent it when it comes out.

Rating:
Summary: addicted to boldness and craftyness
Review: Affleck is shocking
Jackson is even more shocking

this is one of those movies that just goes to show you that:

1: you can never get enough revenge without paying for it each time

and
2: when you've done a good deed at the end of your day it goes to show you that we need more good in us then bad

this movie shows us what comes out of us at times. the worst which hopefully we try not to show. and teh best which is really nice to convey.

this is one powerful thriller movie

I could watch this over and over and not get sick of it
the plot is amazing and lures you in

that's what makes this amazing
and the direction and directing just is spell binding

anyone that likes Affleck or Jackson needs to give this movie a shot. I did. got it on dvd. and loved it. and always will

Rating:
Summary: Changing Lanes
Review: ONE WRONG TURN DESERVES ANOTHER

This movie is pretty cool. But could have been better. I went into this movie to see an action film. But the movie didn't turn out that way. It was slow at times. But it was good at times. It is one of those movies that you would want to watch when you are calm.

THE SPECIAL FEATURES ON THIS 1-DISC DVD ARE:

1.COMMENTARY BY DIRECTOR ROGER MICHELL

2.THE MAKING OF CHANGING LANES

3.THE WRITER'S PERSPECTIVE FEATURETTE

4.DELETED AND EXTENDED SCENES

5.THEATRICAL TRAILER

THERE IS OVER 30 MINUTES OF SPECIAL FEATURES ON THIS 1-DISC DVD!

Rating:
Summary: Slow, and conveniently tied up
Review: I bought this mainly for Ben Affleck (big fan so shut up), and while he was OK, Samuel L Jackson bettered (that's bEttered, not battered) him in the better star/character stakes. I found Samuel's character and whole storyline a lot better, and more endearing to the audience.

This movie has been described as a 'thriller'. I'm sorry to say I have to disagree. I certainly wasn't on the edge of my seat at anytime, and found my eyes wandering to the clock a lot. It simply drags. And there are no fancy effects to talk of. So if you're looking for fancy action, or scantily clad girls - you're gonna be watching the wrong movie.

Sometimes, the film seems slightly rushed, even though other parts are extremely slow - the finale for example, it just seemed too convenient, that everything worked out OK (or not?), and you're left wondering where on earth Hollywood got the idea for this movie. At times, it seems like you're back in school, with two little boys in the playground accusing each other of starting it first.

The thing that does get me sometimes, is the fact that Samuel L Jackson seems to play the exact same role, and you can recognise the role he has played many times before. Maybe that's just me.

The trailer doesn't do anything for the film, the trailer seems to say it's more fast paced than it actually is. The rest of the extras are your average lot really, no bright ideas when it came to these: commentary, making-of, deleted and extended scenes, alternate endings, and "A Writer's Perspective" featurette.

You may find this movie disappointing, if you're watching it purely for Ben Affleck. Don't expect a fast paced film whatever you do. If you want a fast paced THRILLER, go for Phone Booth.

Rating:
Summary: Many wrongs never make right
Review: This is a movie with no heroes, no nudity, no CGI and practically no fancy stunts, yet somehow it manages to hold your interest.

After feeling genuine hatred for the two lead characters, more so for Banek (Affleck) than Gipson (Jackson), I found that the ending wrapped up too quickly, too conveniently and too smoothly, and while it was reasonably watchable the first time, I probably wouldn't want to see it a second time.

Both Affleck and Jackson play their parts convincingly, and make it almost believable that a fender bender could lead to such chaos. In the real world however, Banek should have wised up to his work situation from the beginning, and Gipson would have certainly fallen off the wagon. Personally, I could never be charitable to a man who purposely sets out to destroy my family's chance for happiness, or lies about my kids safety, which makes the somewhat neat ending leave a bad taste in my mouth.

The bankruptcy story thread was unconvincing. The highly paid professional just accepting his failure with a shrug off is just not realistic. There are other parts of the movie where the lead characters cause significant damage to office property without repercussions, and some of the support actors tenuously cling to the storyline like afterthoughts.

Considering that this movie is about greed, arrogance, despair, revenge, deceit and blackmail, it does very well to maintain a reasonable entertainment value. The "positive message" comes too late to be of significant redeeming value.

Jackson's performance carries the movie as far as it can go.

Rating:
Summary: "You're addicted to chaos."
Review: `One Wrong Turn Deserves Another", that's the tagline for the film Changing Lanes (2002), starring Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson, directed by Roger Michell, someone I've never heard of before here, but I found out he also directed the Julia Roberts film Notting Hill (1999), which I have yet to see, mostly because Julia Roberts kinda scares me with those big horse teeth of hers.

As the film begins, we sort of meet two individuals, a fancy schmanzy lawyer named Gavin Banek (Affleck) and a telephone insurance salesman Doyle Gipson (Jackson). The two men, while both on their way to court, Banek involved in a case worth a lot of money to the law firm he's a partner in, and Gipson involved in a custody hearing with his divorced wife, get into a car accident with each other. Gipson wants to handle the situation in the correct manner, but Banek, who caused the accident, has little time to deal with the formalities, tries to deal with the matter expeditiously, pawning off a blank check on Gipson, leaving not only the scene of the accident, but leaving Gipson stranded as his car is totaled. In his haste, Banek accidentally leaves an important document with Gipson, one that could potentially cost his firm over 100 million dollars and even prison time for Banek. As a result of the accident and being stranded by Banek, Gipson misses his appearance, and the court rules against him, allowing for his ex-wife to move away with their two sons. Banek, in the meantime, is allowed until the end of the day to produce the lost document, and later discovers Gipson still has possession of it, but is disgruntled over the treatment he received from Banek and losing his custody hearing, setting up a cycle of revenge between the two men, each sort of `one upping' each other to increasingly dangerous and life-altering levels.

First of all, I just had a hard time buying Affleck as a partner in a big law firm, despite the fact that his father-in-law, played wonderfully by Sidney Pollack, is also a partner. I think he's a decent actor, a bit over-rated, and he's certainly got the smarmy quality down, inherent in many of his roles, but I didn't feel like he had the level of intelligence required to hold the position he does...and are all lawyers smarmy, greedy, opportunistic liars looking to rip people off? Maybe...I don't know, but this movie would have you believe so...Jackson is pretty good, but he's pretty much playing a role I've seen numerous times before from him, the angry, loud black man who yells a lot. It's toned down a little here, but not much. In the film, we find his wife left him because of his problem with alcohol and his addiction to rage. Throughout the film, she would seem on the verge of possibly reconciling with him, but then would quickly change her mind. This happened three or fours times, and given the film takes place over the course of one day, I could see where Jackson's character might react the way he does, given that she has such a penchant for flip flopping. One of the things I disliked about this film was each time one of the main characters would initiate some form of revenge on the other, they would suffer from moralistic pangs, which would soon pass as the cycle continued. And honestly, there weren't really any likeable characters in this film, despite any attempts of redemption by the characters within the story. Banek is a self-serving lawyer, one whose professional dealings seem awful shady (he struggles with this throughout most of the movie, as we are supposed to believe his conscious is now bothering him, despite his previous actions). Oh yeah, he's also an adulterer...and Jackson's character, a recovering alcoholic telephone insurance salesman with confrontation issues, one who his AA sponsor (played by William Hurt) say is `addicted to chaos'. We do see him desperately trying to put the pieces of his life back together and develop a relationship with his two young sons, but I always got the feeling like his attempts were always too little, too late. I did like the performances by Pollack and Hurt, even though they got so little screen time and it seemed like their characters were a bit contrived as plot devices, both seemingly only present to serve as external forces for good, with Hurt and Jackson, and bad, with Pollack and Affleck, to put it simply. Toni Collette makes an appearance or two, as a colleague of Affleck at his law firm, but her character is almost a non-character, offering little more than a foil for Banek to bounce off of as he deals with his conscience. And I have to say, while I think she's normally an attractive woman, she did not look good here, with here bleached out hair. I was expecting a much different direction at the end, as the film reminded me slightly of the 1993 Michael Douglas film Falling Down, in that events continuously build on each other leading to an inevitable conclusion, but here, things wrapped up just a bit too convenient for my tastes, especially given the self destructive nature of the characters and events that transpired.

The wide screen anamorphic picture here looks wonderful, and there are a few special features available including a really worthwhile commentary track by the director, a 15 minute `Making of' featurette, deleted and extended scenes (only about three total and not really offering much more to the story), a five minute `A Writer's Perspective' featurette, and a theatrical trailer for the film. The product page here mentions alternative endings, but I didn't see those listed in the special features of the disc. By the way, if you ever get into a one upping contest with Samuel L. Jackson, check your car's lug nuts regularly.

Cookieman108