A riveting thriller about a forensic psychologist racing to prevent his own murder. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 02/24/2009 Starring: Al Pacino Leelee Sobieski Run time: 107 minutes Rating: R
Al Pacino looks startled through much of 88 Minutes, as though taken by surprise at being cast in a thriller that must've first passed across the desks of Clint Eastwood and Harrison Ford. Still, Pacino brings his usual oomph to the role of a Seattle forensic psychiatrist, whose testimony secured the death sentence for a crazy serial killer (Neal McDonough). Wouldn't you know it, the very day the killer is sentenced to die, a copycat "Seattle Slayer" is on the loose, and Pacino starts getting ominous phone calls telling him the exact time of his own death. Tick tock: it's 88 minutes away. The film then serves up more red herrings than a Stalingrad fish fry, as possible culprits pop up every five minutes or so (among them an attractive group of med-school students played by Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski, and Benjamin McKenzie). Lapses in logic abound, but if you hunker down and zone in on Pacino's weary-eyed, poufy-haired professionalism, you can enjoy the goings-on. (They even make him run up flights of stairs, which one would have thought beyond him now.) Seattle's frequent stunt double, Vancouver, B.C., stands in as a location, and Jon Avnet supplies the slick direction. The cast is talented (including Amy Brenneman), leading you to guess that a lot of people will do anything just to work with Al Pacino. And you've got to admire Pacino's chutzpah at sharing the screen with statuesque actresses such as Brenneman and Sobieski; they tower over him, but he still holds his own. --Robert Horton
Stills from 88 Minutes (click for larger image)
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 2.5 / 5.0
8 8 Minutes:
AL PACINO . . . Is NOT going to be disappointing
anybody in this movie. It is worth twice
WHATEVER you pay for it . . .
Enjoyable thriller:
In this movie, Al Pacino is a forensic psychologist who has a way with women. He served as an expert witness on a murder case and he was largely responsible for putting the accused man into prison. On the day that the man is due to be executed, a copycat murder takes place which suggests that the man has been falsely imprisoned. At the same time, Pacino receives a phone call telling him that he has only 88 minutes to live. For the rest of the movie, Pacino races against time as numerous red herrings are... more info
This film brought to you by MSNBC:
Al Pacino sleepwalks through the role of a go-to crime fighter named Jack Gramm who races against the clock to stop a murder - his own. The script (such that it is) is cliche-riddled with all the sloppiness of a drive-by shooting. The predictable culprit taunts our bored-looking protagonist - whom everyone in the picture can immediately identify - with a faux-Jigsaw computerized voice in a failed effort to replicate Dennis Hopper's "Pop quiz, hotshot!" from Speed: "Tick tock, doc!" The cherry on... more info
If you liked Copy Cat... Watch it again!:
I liked the old Sigourney Weaver film Copy Cat, it was tense and scary and interesting. 88 Minutes is almost the same movie with Al Pacino taking the part of Weaver. Nothing special about the film other than the thought that is expressed in the alternative ending. Not a terrible movie, but nothing to get excited about and share with your friends.
2 1/2 *
