I was sort of looking forward to seeing the new movie Derailed during my possible annual Christmas outing to a movie theater. I thought the premise was interesting, sort of like the conundrum Diane Lane and Richard Gere experienced in Unfaithful. Besides, I think Clive Owen is a pretty good actor (he was great in Croupier and in his brief appearance in The Bourne Identity) and in spite of her totally ignorant political commentary, she is pretty easy on the eyes. She also proved she could handle interesting roles, such as The Good Girl.
One problem: I watched some “The Making of…” infomercial about Derailed on TV the other day, and came away with the feeling that the plot “twists” in this picture might be lit up like a neon sign shortly after the credits roll. My wife often accuses me of paying too much attention to what reviewers say (probably a major reason I only see one new movie a year, if I’m lucky). But some of the commentary in this review of Derailed cements my fears.
Without having seen the movie, here’s my prediction of the plot. Owen’s character is a businessman who gets on a train and has no money for a ticket (question: don’t business people who regularly commute by train have weekly or monthly tickets?). Aniston’s character, a financial professional, offers to buy his ticket. They eventually begin to meet for drinks and dinners. Next thing you know, they’re in some seedy hotel, taking a roll in the rack. The room is invaded by a thug who assaults them both and demands money. Later on, he continues to blackmail Owen, who’s married with a child, as is Aniston.
Conclusion: Aniston hatched the entire plot with the bad guy to get all of Owen’s money. Alternate conclusion: Owen’s wife is involved in the plot as a way to get all his money and get rid of him.
We shall see…
By the way, unintentionally hysterical comment from the Daily News review:
If Owen had won the James Bond sweepstakes, for instance, he could have appeared with Aniston in a remake of “Goldfinger,” though Aniston would make a better Miss Moneypenny than Pussy Galore.
Wait a minute. That would depend on your point of view, wouldn’t it?
Ask Brad.
I can’t call four sentences (two of which were questions) on the state of the world political commentary, but I wonder what kind of commentary her lawyer had when she and Brad signed the pre-nups.