Susan Granger’s review of “Derailed” (Weinstein Co./Miramax Films)
While Jennifer Aniston is understandably eager to shed her Rachel-on-“Friends” image, this preposterously plodding and tepid psychological thriller is unlikely to win her any new fans.
As the story begins, Chicago advertising executive Charles Schine (Clive Owen) finds himself on the commuter train to work minus cash to pay for his ticket. Graciously coming to his rescue is fellow suburbanite, Lucinda Harris (that’s Aniston) who works for a financial firm. Like Schine, she’s unhappily married with a child. Their “Strangers on a Train” conversation turns to flirtation and soon they’re set for an adulterous liaison at a seedy hotel where they’re surprised by LaRoche (Vincent Cassel), a vicious, gun-toting, Gallic sociopath, who bursts in, pistol-whips Charles, rapes Lucinda and steals their valuables. Charles wants to call the police but Lucinda refuses, fearful that her wealthy husband will divorce her and take their child. Then LaRoche begins to blackmail Charles, who’s worried about his daughter’s expensive diabetes treatments.
Adroitly adapted by Stuart Beattie (“Collateral”) from James Siegel’s novel, the screenplay is formulaic and structured, beginning and ending in prison, but Swedish director Mikael Hafstrom (“Evil”) fails to elicit the necessary tension to overcome the murky chain of coincidences and telegraphed plot twists. In addition, there’s no believable chemistry between the traumatized Aniston (unflatteringly photographed by Peter Biziou) and hapless Clive Owen (“Closer”) as the ill-fated lovers. Not surprisingly, Vincent Cassel (“Ocean’s Twelve) comes across as the most charismatic of the miscast, mismatched trio. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Derailed” grinds in with a tawdry, sordid 3. It’s way off-track and will soon be on its way to video oblivion.
