Review: Double Jeopardy (BIG SPOILERS)
Edward Johnson-ott
Tommy Lee Jones, Ashley Judd, Bruce Greenwood, Annabeth Gish, Roma Maffia,
Davenia McFadden, Jay Brazeau, Gillian Barber, Benjamin Weir, Spencer
Treat Clark. Written by David Weisberg and Douglas S. Cook. Directed by
Bruce Beresford. 105 minutes.
Rated R, 1.5 stars (out of five stars)
Review by Ed Johnson-Ott, NUVO Newsweekly
www.nuvo-online.com
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For film buffs, there are few things more annoying than movie trailers
that give away too much of the plot. The pinnacle of this peculiar form
of marketing comes with the promotional campaign for "Double Jeopardy," a
"Fugitive" knock-off starring Ashley Judd and Tommy Lee Jones. If you've
seen the commercials for the film, there's no need to visit the theater,
because the ads are a veritable Cliffs Notes version of the thriller,
spilling every major plot point of the story.
Here's what the ads reveal (SPOILER ALERT: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS THE
ENTIRE PLOT). We open with Ashley Judd and Bruce Greenwood, sailing
happily on a sunny day. Cut to night, as Ashley searches for her husband.
She finds a bloody knife on the deck and picks it up, just in time for
the Coast Guard to appear and order her not to move. Cut to a man
informing the stunned Ashley that a $2 million insurance policy would
certainly be considered motive for murder. Ashley exclaims "I didn't kill
my husband!" Cut to Ashley in prison, as the announcer intones "In prison
for a crime she didn't commit... " Cut to a woman answering the phone
with Ashley's son at her side. Just as mother and child begin their
tender phone reunion, we see the father walk in the door. The young lad
happily shouts "Daddy!" Cut to a close up of Ashley, shocked beyond
belief as she realizes the truth. Cut to a fellow inmate, who explains to
Ashley that having already been committed of murdering her husband, she
could now kill him without fear of legal repercussions, thanks to the
"double jeopardy" rule that protects a defendant from being tried twice
for the same crime. Cut to Ashley, out of prison, being pursued by Tommy
Lee Jones. Cut to an elderly lady informing Ashley that the man she is
searching for recently lost his new wife in a "tragic accident." Ashley
nods knowingly. Cut to Tommy Lee, telling an officer "Did you ever arrest
anybody you thought was innocent?" Cut to Ashley, confronting her husband
while holding a gun in her hand and saying "I could shoot you in the
middle of Mardi Gras and the cops couldn't do a thing." Cut to Tommy Lee,
who tells the man "As a former law professor, I can assure you she's
correct." The panicked hubby begs for help, only to have Tommy Lee smile
wryly and say "Why are you talking to me? She has the gun." (END
SPOILERS)
For the benefit of those who skipped the spoiler section and didn't see
the ads, the film, which starts in the Northwest and ends in New Orleans,
is an idiotic potboiler, redeemed only slightly by pretty scenery, a
couple of well-staged chase scenes and the presence of Ashley Judd and
Tommy Lee Jones (although why they are slumming in glossy trash like this
is beyond me). "Double Jeopardy" is fun only as a guilty pleasure, one of
those "so-bad-that-it's good" movies. Unless you're a fan of that genre,
I suggest you simply watch the commercial and save 105 minutes of your
life.
© 1999 Ed Johnson-Ott