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Double Jeopardy pitches its sights somewhere amongst The Fugitive, Dead Calm and The Vanishing, in that it tells the tale of Libby Parsons (Ashley Judd) and her trials and tribulations following her being framed by her evil hubby Nick (Bruce Greenwood) for his murder. Whilst doing porridge for offing her spouse, Libby learns of an American legal foible called "double jeopardy" whereby no-one can be convicted of the same crime twice. Thus she embarks upon a three-fold plan upon being released on parole: prove her innocence; get her doe-eyed, pudding-bowl coiffured son back; and - perhaps - blow old Nick away in a justified fit of retribution. Hampering her intentions here is Travis Lehman (Tommy Lee Jones), a grizzled "tough but fair" (tm US Scriptwriters' Union) parole officer, who doesn't take too kindly to Libby's post-curfew exploits. What follows then is a game of cat and mouse between Libby and Travis, seemingly travelling all over America's most scenic states in the process. Mocking smugness aside, Double Jeopardy is not a bad film at all. Performances from the leads are good (though Jones must have rankled at being asked "do a character just like what you did in The Fugitives and US Marshalls and we'll pay you lots of money"), and the widescreen vistas of the Rockies and New Orleans are particularly pleasing on the eye. Commendably also, it doesn't descend into action movie drivel (although it threatens to on more than one occasion) and retains a sense of semi-realism throughout. Less a "whodunnit" than a "whatisshegonnado", Double Jeopardy is a watchable and relatively entertaining snippet to pass the time between better films, and is probably the perfect Friday night video movie. And I'd rather watch it all over again than sit through the travesty that was The Beach. Back to Screen Scene |
A Fall-filler movie, inasmuch as it was released in the States between the
summer blockbusters and the holiday season fare. Which could go some way
towards explaining why such a pedestrian film did so well at the US box office.