88 Minutes stars Al Pacino as Dr. Jack Gramm, a college professor and a forensic psychiatrist for the FBI. A series of murders are being committed that match the work of a serial killer on death row whom Gramm help send to prison. When Gramm receives a death threat claiming he has only 88 minutes to live, he uses his skills and training to try and narrow down the possible suspects and the connection to the murders before his time runs out. Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski, Amy Brenneman and Neal McDonough also star.
To say this movie is getting ripped to shreds by the critics would be an understatement. Metacritic.com, which compiles reviews from movie critics around the world, has ranked the film at #3 on their All-Time lowest review scores. Having seen the film, I must say that while it is far from being a good movie, I don’t feel it deserves to be so vilified. I can easily think of several recent films that are much worse (Thanks again, Dane Cook). Perhaps it’s because Al Pacino is considered to be such a good actor, with a list of several incredible film roles, that makes this movie seem so much worse than the movies out there that are expected to suck. For an Oscar-winning actor with such credibility, this is a remarkably weak movie.
88 Minutes wants desperately to be a clever thriller. It has all the cliche elements of a race-against-time mystery where anyone and everyone is a suspect. And there are brief moments of tension that just barely deliver. But overall the story just doesn’t connect. The plot points are very clumsily laid out and the film is structured in such a way that pretty much makes everyone look guilty, therefore making any kind of mystery pretty pointless. There is nothing to figure out here, you just have to wait patiently for the climactic end where we find out which one of the equally possible suspects is behind the murders and the death threat. And when it is finally revealed, it’s pretty much a let down. No real excitement or any amazing revelations. It’s just kind of “whatever.”
Al Pacino’s acting in 88 Minutes is lethargic to say the least. Even when he’s running you feel like he could drop and fall asleep at any minute. I don’t know if he was looking for a quick paycheck and took any weak script that came along or what but clearly his heart is not in this one at all. Which is unfortunate because I thought he was brilliant in Ocean’s 13. He can still get good roles and deliver. So why go slumming with this one?
There is nothing really to like in this film. It’s not so much that it’s bad but more that it’s simply a waste of time. Don’t bother.
