NOW IN THEATERS

88 MINUTES
Rated R
Al Pacino, Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski, Amy Brenneman, William Forsythe
 
Brian’s Rating       

It’s hard for me to imagine that Academy Award winner Al Pacino’s life is in financial peril but I can think of no other reason to justify his appearance in 88 Minutes, a dull crime drama that should disappear quickly from theatres.

The cast of characters is endless, the story is absurdly complex, the ending is puzzling, and hours after the screening I still can’t figure the whole thing out.

Pacino plays a forensic psychiatrist whose work for the FBI has introduced him to some pretty unsavory characters. One of them has engineered an 88 minute countdown to the good doctor’s death, and the film deals with the search to find the source of the threat before it’s too late.

The suspects include a death row convict and a dozen of the doctor’s students, but you’ll be too bewildered by the plot to care.

88 Minutes comes off as bargain basement Agatha Christie and should be avoided at all costs.