Review of Derailed (2002) by Mark N — 25 Jul 2008

Married father Charles Schine (Clive Owen) meets by chance the married mother Lucinda Harris (Jennifer Aniston). Their casual flirtations turn into something more intense, but before they can consummate their illicit relationship they are interrupted by the French thug LaRoche (Vincent Cassel), who breaks into their shabby hotel room and starts a deadly game of blackmail...

There are many films which have tried to emulate the works of one of the greatest filmmakers ever, Alfred Hitchcock, and certainly "Derailed" could have been perhaps one of the films that one would imagine the great master working on. However, thats where it stops, for "Derailed", despite a twisty Hitchockian-like plot and interesting ideas, suffers from trying to be better than it really is.

The biggest pull is arguably Jennifer Aniston. After a career of mainly being typecast as kooky romantic leads in forgettable rom-coms and chick flicks, it is initially refreshing to see her in a starkly different and darker role. It's a pity that she can't pull it of. There is very little eroticism in the opening scenes of flirtation between her and Owen's character, and though she does quite well in the scenes initially after the attack by LaRoche, the actual scene where he attempts to rape her is let down by a lack of fear and panic in her acting; her squeals during this sound more like a schoolgirl who's discovered a tiny spider in the bathtub. Though I know she can be a very good actress, being a fan of "Friends" and her role in the wonderful "Office Space" (Judge, 1999), on this film alone it seems that Aniston should stick to those type of roles which she pulls off better.

The biggest letdown in the film must, however, be Vincent Cassell in the seedy villain role. Again a fan of his early roles, particularly (and perhaps obviously) in "La Haine" (Kassovitz, 1995), it was disappointing to see such a poor character in LaRoche. He does not appear to be much of a threat at all, and tends to overplay it rather pompously. There is also a tiring sense of predictability in what he does during the film - it seems obvious that he would end up in Owen's house at some point, and there is the same sense surrounding the final scenes of the film.

Perhaps the only actor who slightly impresses here is Owen, but eve he suffers from a distinct lack of likability I felt with the character. Whether it was leering at the understandably gorgeous stockinged legs of Aniston right at he beginning or when he becomes a type of dark avenger in the final third act, there was very little sympathy for anything he did. Perhaps this was because his character comes out very, very lightly in the film - he does not suffer that much at all. True the money he initially pays LaRoche in the French villain's blackmail scheme is needed to buy vital equipment for hi sick daughter, but despite an early scene of drama involving the illness (wonderfully played by newcomer Addison Timlin), there are no major life-threatening threads that would really push Owen's character into this avenger role. At the least his gorgeous wife (Melissa George) could have kicked him out of the house, but you get the distinct feeling that it won't be long before he's back in the marital bed.

The only other problem I had with the film was that the dialogue was in some scenes very, very quiet, and we had the volume on our television up quite loud. There was also a rather unfortunate tendency for all of the black characters to talk "street", making it very difficult for them to be understood.

Overall, "Derailed" was a nice effort, but was only that - an effort - at emulating the grand master. You're gonna have to do better than this to top him, or even match him.

6/10.