Denzel Washington has spent years building a critical reputation and box office success; he’s one of those (relatively) rare people whose name on the marquee pretty much guarantees a decent opening weekend gross. But over time I believe he’s realized, as have other actors (for instance, Robert DeNiro), that some films you make for the payday and some because it’s the kind of film that got acting into your blood. Out of Time is, undoubtedly, a payday film for Washington. Not that I begrudge anyone the chance to make however many million dollars someone wants to pay him or her for actually doing a job, but the resulting films are generally not worth our time to watch.
Out of Time is, at bottom, a lazy film. Written by David Collard (only prior credit is TV cartoon Family Guy) and directed by Carl Franklin, we get a standard three course meal: overly emotional acting, red herrings and unsurprising surprises. Denzel is police chief in a small Florida beach town; the woman with whom he had an affair–his wife is a police detective on the squad–turns up dead and circumstances keep turning up that center him in the prime suspect dartboard.
John Billingsley is very Phlox-like as the only friend Washington can turn to, though he’s also one of the red herrings. Eva Mendes is the ultra-hottie wife/detective who can’t decide whether to arrest and divorce Washington or forgive him and rip his clothes off. Terry Laughlin is cardboard stock as a senior DEA agent, for which I can’t blame the veteran character actor, since his only dramatic purpose is to increase the heat on our hero; his subplot has absolutely zero connection to the main story but is an indicator of the lazy factor. The moments of this movie intended to be the most suspenseful fail utterly because we know that, despite all the mounting evidence, Denzel cannot die nor can he be the murderer.
not recommended
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