OUT OF TIME -----------
Banyon Key Chief of Police Matt Lee Whitlock (Denzel Washington) has a wife, Alex (Eva Mendes, "2 Fast 2 Furious"), he still loves who's divorcing him and a high school sweetheart lover, Anne (Sanaa Lathan, "Love and Basketball"), with a suspicious abusive husband (Dean Cain, TV's "Superman"). He's been successful on the job, having just made a high profile drug bust, but when he 'borrows' state's evidence to the tune of $400,000 to save Anne from terminal cancer he discovers he's been set up, his detective wife is on the case and he's just plain "Out of Time."
Director Carl Franklin ("Devil in a Blue Dress," "One True Thing") serves up a spritely piece of entertainment featuring a playful performance from Denzel Washington that almost distracts from the implausible plot. If you're willing to forgive some unlikely scenarios, "Out of Time" is cracking good fun.
Chief Whitlock is startled when he accompanies Anne to a doctor's appointment (introduced as her brother) and learns of her terminal diagnosis. When Anne can't arrange to draw money from the life insurance policy her husband has just increased tenfold to one million dollars, Whitlock, sure that the cash in his custody will remain there long enough to be replaced, gives it to her to travel to a pricey Swiss clinic. When she doesn't appear for an arranged meeting that night, he goes to the Harrison's house and hears her arguing with husband Chris, but leaves when a nosy neighbor turns on floodlights. The next morning the Harrisons' house has burned to the ground with two bodies inside, the neighbor's witness sketch looks just like him, Miami DEA agent White (Veryl Jones) calls demanding the drug money immediately as evidence in another case and his detective wife begins scanning the victim's phone records.
David Collard's script would have us believe that the chief would immediately begin a cover up race that seems doomed to failure, but his dialogue is so entertaining and the dual investigations so neatly entwined that it is easy to forgive some far-fetched plot contrivances. Collard makes sexual innuendo almost fresh in a fake out opener and writes a showdown between Whitlock and Harrison that sizzles with tension (Washington and Cain punch the scene out of the park). He also blesses Whitlock with a uniquely hilarious and original sidekick in John Billingsley's Chae, the type of medical coroner who wears shorts, a fishing hat and is annoyed when somebody dies during Friday night cocktail hour.
Franklin paces the film well and achieves an airiness and lightness with his ensemble while still building a real sense of danger and suspense. Washington gives one of his best performances to date by taking himself a little less seriously. He's sexy with the suddenly adult Lathan and throws sparks with the able Mendes. Dean Cain is on the money as a threatening former football star and Billingsley almost walks away with the entire movie. Graeme Revell's score fits the bill as well.
"Out of Time" may not be the Oscar bait it has seemingly been positioned for, but it's a damn good time at the movies in a year that's had too few of them.
B
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