Review of Derailed (2002) by Adam F — 31 Mar 2013

"Derailed" is a ridiculous thriller that only gets worse as it goes along. The whole film depends on the main character (played by Clive Owen) being the most gullible, suggestible and idiotic victim of blackmail in the history of mankind and it becomes so infuriating you'll need to take breaks during the film to scream out in rage. A quick resume of what happens in the movie to give some context: Charles Schine works in the advertising industry, is married to Deanna and has a daughter that's type 1 diabetic. The two parents work non-stop to save up money in order to get their daughter some medical help and pay off their second mortgage on the house. One day, "Charles" meets "Lucinda" (played by Jennifer Anniston) on a train, the two hit it off and start having an affair, but when they go back to a hotel room, they're victims of a vicious crime. The criminal in question is "Philippe" (played by Vincent Cassel) who proceeds to blackmail "Charles" for outrageous sums of money. So you might be able to think of some problems with this set up from the beginning... like "Why is Charles going along with this instead of calling the police?" Well the answer to that question is because he's a total moron. It doesn't take a genius to realise that the reason why a criminal would tell you "not to contact the police" is because the police would be able to solve the whole affair quickly. It also doesn't take a genius to realise that if you give a blackmailer some money, they're not going to go away. You almost want "Philippe" to succeed with his plot because you have no sympathy for someone who would be stupid enough to give all of his money to one of the most transparent and one dimensional villains ever seen on screen. He's so evil that he casually goes around beating up people (even in their own house), threatening people over the phone and even commiting murder to get his blackmail money. The guy feels like a total amateur at the whole blackmail thing because he's just leaving evidence everywhere but thankfully he's picked the biggest pushover ever as his victim.

As the movie goes, there are several scenes that feel very awkward and create plot holes for the film. In one scene that cements "Charles" as a total fool, he is speaking to a police officer when he gets a call from the blackmailer. It doesn't take a titan of intellect to think that maybe if you passed the phone onto the detective while making a "shh, just listen" motion, you would probably be able to set the bad guy up to confess his crimes to the police right there and then! Because this is a thriller that does rely on some twists to keep itself going, it would be wrong to write down all of the scenes that have logical problems in them but particularly towards the end these become more and more obvious. It's just really hard to believe that the man who has been saving money for years for his daughter to get better would just throw it away because he was almost unfaithful to his wife. For that reason the movie really doesn't work but it is, at the very least entertaining throughout. Sure, it will drive you mad looking at these fools making the dumbest choices possible while dealing with this whole blackmail plot but you won't be able to turn it off because the movie consistently tops its own stupidity. Other than that, Jennifer Anniston sure looks good trying to seduce Clive Owen and the performances are decent too.

The plot of "Derailed" is utter nonsense but it does stay consistantly more interesting as it goes along and even though the characters are surprisingly stupid you'll still be curious to see what happens to them; it might not be good but there is some entertainment to be found here. (Dvd, March 29, 2013).