88 Minutes

88 Minutes (Rated R)

Running time: 1 hr 48 mins (??)

Cast:

Al Pacino
Alicia Witt
LeeLee Sobieski
William Forsythe

Critical consensus (www.rottentomatoes.com)

* out of *****

My consensus:

0 out of *****







The premise: A thriller about a college professor who, while moonlighting as a forensic psychiatrist for the FBI, receives a death threat telling him that he has only 88 minutes to live. In narrowing down possible suspects, he frantically seeks to communicate with a problem student, an ex-girlfriend, and a serial killer on death row.

My review: By years end, 88 Minutes may very well be the worst film of 2008. But I don't want to jump the gun, because there's a lot of garbage films coming out. But that's exactly what this film is, garbage. Everything about it is a disgusting disgrace to film; it's a slap in the face. The films production value is at a bare minimal. It looks and feels like a really cheaply made straight to DVD release film that you find buried on some Blockbuster shelf. The music is corny, the camera work is atrocious; the filmaking is at the lowest of lows. The story is really stupid an almost nonsensical. The film is advertised as a real time film, meaning it literally takes place in 88 minutes of true time (such as films like Nick of Time or TV shows like 24) , which if done right, is a really neat filmaking technique. However, 88 Minutes is 108 minutes in length. The 88 mins doesn't begin until maybe 10 or 15 minutes into the film. But there are so many cuts, and this character is all over the place in time frames that are just so unbelievable (and I NEVER question the believability factor of a film, this is rare for me). The cast is one of the worst in recent years led by Oscar winner Al Pacino (Scent of a Woman). He better pick up is game, because he shames his illustrious career with this role. This is a terrible, awful, horrible film.