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Changing Lanes

Changing Lanes

List Price: $14.99
Your Price: $13.49
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: The whole thing dragged and never got up to speed.
Review: This is one of them where best actors went bad.
What a waste of money because i bought it, NOT recommend to waste money for rental.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: See!! Look what I can do to you!!! ....... I can bore you!!!
Review: Despite the fact that Ben Affleck is the most overated actor in the last 10 years, I gave this movie a chance. My time would have been better spent giving myself shock treatments. At least then I would have gotten something out of the experience.
Samuel L. Jackson did a good job portraying a desperate man who has been [done] over by Affleck. But Affleck's performance is absolutely horrible. They spend the entire film out to get each other only to feel guilty when they mess up the others' lives.
Do yourself a favor, and try the shock treatments instead.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Frightening, our potential for revenge
Review: This is an interesting movie, because it is so plausible.

Two men caught in their own agendas, one obviously trying to get ahead at all costs, another trying to do the right thing for a change and it all blows up in their faces.

Both Ben Afleck and Samuel Jackson give memorable performances. Neither guy is really your typical bad guy. Ben Afleck is your sleazy get ahead lawyer type, accepting the obscenities of the system he works in. Samuel Jackson is a recovering alcoholic with tendencies for violent outbursts trying to put his life back together and his family. He's trying to do things by the book for a change and it seems the events of the day are destined to thwart him.

The characters meet one day in a minor traffic mishap leaving Samuel Jackson stranded due to Ben Afleck's rush to get to court. What Ben Afleck's character doesn't know, is that his rush has left the other motorist in a very bad situation. Also, due to this rush he has left a critical document to his case with that very same motorist, he treated so badly.

The story goes on, as the character's reconnect again and again, trying to resolve the issues each has. This spirals to the worst behavior for both, till they nearly ruin one another's lives. I won't tell you the rest, but you can see, that these are two ordinary people that play out a vendetta, where really no intentional malice was ever intended until one feels that the other is manipulating him. Frightening how it can get so bad for nothing.

Both men are shown acting with outrage, and malice and regret, inevitably in that order. It is too bad neither realized the humanity of the person involved early on.

It is a good movie, but can be emotionally tiring to watch in the sense, you realize someone is doing something really counter to what would resolve the situation. However, despite this is has an interesting moral twist that will button it up nicely.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very good
Review: The problem this movie faced from the beginning is that the preview made it look like a fast-paced action movie with a sense of urgency concerning the file, so when I left the theater I thought it was pretty good, but I was kind of disappointed at the same time. Then I bought it a couple weeks ago, and knowing what I was in for since I had already seen it, I was really impressed. This is a strong drama with great performances all around - Affleck, Jackson, to the supporting role Sydney Pollack as Delano. I still think that even as a drama this movie deserved a better ending. By the end of the film we do not want to see either Affleck or Jackson's character go down, but we do want to be surprised in some way. The original ending of this movie was that Affleck gives his speech about right and wrong, then they get into an argument over whose fault the accident was. They get into a fist fight on the top of the building, and Jackson waves the file over the building, pretending he's going to drop it. Affleck then grabs it from him and destroys it and they walk away as friends and the credits fade. I guess test screeners must not have liked it. I have yet to see this ending, and am dying to find it somewhere. It was supposed to be included on the DVD, so maybe it's a hidden feature if anyone ever finds it. I think this ending would have been better because it's ambiguous and leaves it up to the audience to decide where Affleck and Jackson take their lives after that. The movie is still very good though, but if you are expecting to see explosions or for anyone to die, this movie is not for you.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Sartre's "No Exit" Played Out in Urban Spaces
Review: Hell is other people, and in "Changing Lanes," the two central characters go to hellish extremes to make certain each other has a very bad day. The story, overloaded with contrivance, serves up plot reversals at steady fifteen minute intervals - boy, if we could only get away from commercial script writing 1001 structures - but overall, as movies go, this one isn't bad, and it ends up on a sublime, reflective note that far surpasses the 90 minutes that had come before. The film does have something interesting worth saying about anxious urban life and Sam Jackson's presence certainly gives the film a jolt or two. Even Affleck has a few surprises for us, his exasperating church confessional scene easily being one of his best screen moments in his movie career. Jackson is such a terrific actor and he deserves better scripts, but until a better one comes along, "Changing Lanes" is worthwhile, albeit minor, diversion.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Crossing The Line
Review: Lawyer Gavin Banek (Ben Affleck) is late for court, he holds important documents, that are sure to help him win his case and become a partner in his father-in-law's (Sydney Pollack). firm. A lot of things are riding on this case...Loving father Doyle Gipson (Samuel L. Jackson), is trying to prove to his estranged wife Valerie (Kim Staunton) that he make up for lost time with her, and the couple's two sons. He has to be in family court to present his case to a judge. When the 2 men are involved in a traffic accident, Gipson wants to do things right, while Banek just wants to get to court. He gives Gipson a blank check and speeds off, leaving the man stranded, and the documents with him as well. The next 12 hours are a game of cat and mouse between the two men, as they struggle to get their lives back in order. Each scheme that they perpetrate against one another, raises the stakes a bit higher.

When the film was released earlier this year, I didn't quite know what to make of it, so I decided to wait for the DVD and check it out at that time. I have to say that the movie was better than I expected it to be. Affleck and Jackson give solid performances here. Both characters act good and bad during the course of the film, thus, making CHANGING LANES quite different from most Hollywood fare out there. Things in the film are never really presented in very clear cut fashion (just like real life). In other words, the film asks its audience to think about what they might do, under similar conditions. Directed by Roger Michell, the film is never overdone, or overblown.

The DVD has a pretty good commentary track with the director, 2 featurettes, one on the making of the film, and the other talks about the script. Other extras include a couple of deleted scences, one extended scene, and the theatrical trailer. A better than expected film and solid bonus features make this DVD recommended.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: good story
Review: Changing Lanes is good for the most part. Even though Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson do a decent job portraying their characters, both actors have had better roles. What makes this movie interesting is the plot. The events that happen to both characters can happen in real life and that is what makes Changing Lanes worth a second look.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Decent Action, but Poor Plot Line
Review: I found this movie to have some good action scenes (when they were there), but had a poor plot line. It was the basic "lets see how bad these men's day could be." The turn of conscience of Ben Affleck does not help make this a better movie. Overall, its okay, but not great.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Wathable, but not great at all.
Review: This is a watch-able movie but you might still fall asleep in between. And this is also the first time that I've seen Samuel Jackson played it just right, not too exaggerate or tried to be too cool at all. He should learn some lessons from Morgan Freeman, acting more naturally and not too larger than his real life.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An interesting morality play
Review: Ben Affleck and Samuel Jackson play two men who meet by chance during a traffic accident. Both are in a hurry to get to a courtroom, Affleck for a business matter and Jackson, to try to get custody of his two boys. Affleck leaves Jackson stranded at the scene of the accident, not knowing that he has left him with a crucial file. Jackson arrives at the courthouse too late to plead his case and thus a vendetta begins. The men play a life-or-death chess match, each striking at the other's weaknesses in order to gain an advantage. The feud continues on a downward spiral until jobs, wives, homes, and lives are threatened. The viewer is forced to examine himself and ask what he would do in a similar situation. The answers are not easy or comfortable. This is an excellent movie, a morality play that asks the question--does the end justify the means?


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