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CHANGING LANES Send This Review to a Friend
One of the better recent films to come out of Hollywood, "Changing Lanes," set in New York, pits a hot-shot lawyer and a hard-pressed father with an alcohol problem against each other, but the film is after much more, taking aim at law firm corruption and the lack of ethical values that permeate so much of society. With Ben Affleck as the lawyer and Samuel L. Jackson as the beleaguered dad both giving strong performances, the film has the inner force needed for it to become absorbing and welcome despite missteps here and there.
Screenwriters Chap Taylor and Michael Tollkin, with Roger Michell directing, do a good job of setting up the polarized lives of Gavin Banek (Affleck) and Doyle Gipson (Jackson) before their worlds--and their cars--collide. A fender-bender occurs when each is hard-pressed for time, Banek to bring crucial papers to court in a battle over control of a charity, Gipson to fight his ex-wife's demand for custody of his two young sons by presenting evidence that he is buying a house in Queens to provide a home that will dissuade her from moving to Oregon with the children. Banek is so in a hurry that he writes a blank check for damage to Gipson's car and takes off contemptuously, saying "Better luck next time." In his haste, he leaves the crucial legal document, which is retrieved by the insulted Gipson.
A decent man with a sense of dignity, Gipson nevertheless isn't about to return the papers given the way he was treated. Banek is desperate, all the more so because there is something fishy about what the papers represent, and a judge orders them in court by the end of the day. (It happens to be Good Friday.) As a last resort, the lawyer enlists the aid of a strong-arm specialist, who through computer wizardry finds out the essentials about Gipson's life and quickly ruins him by computer, rendering him bankrupt. The tactics escalate on both sides, with each man going far beyond what he would normally do. In concept it is a little like the old Laurel and Hardy comedy in which they play tit for tat wrecking each other's property until they reduce everything to rubble. Only there's nothing funny about this mean, harmful personal war that unfolds all in one day.
The events serve to trigger a crisis of conscience for Banek, who becomes aware of the extent of crookedness going on in his firm, with Sydney Pollack chillingly nasty portraying his tough father-in-law mired in the intrigue. Banek's wife, played with icy calculation by Amanda Peet, is locked into living the good life without regard for ethics, and is even willing to forgive her husband's past affair with a colleague (Toni Collette), the only one with a moral compass. Banek gets more and more troubled, but there is a ridiculous scene in which he seeks guidance from a priest by spontaneously popping into a confessional booth.
Gipson's situation worsens and he is about to fall off the wagon but is helped back by a buddy (William Hurt) from Alcoholics Anonymous. The situation with his wife (Kim Staunton) and children has been made worse as a result of a particularly devious act by Banek. How will it all end? The film grows too contrived and saccharine in an effort to bring things to a conclusion, although there is one bit of cynicism that indicates Banek has learned to play the game in his firm with one-upmanship. The film's flaws can be overlooked, given the level of what does work effectively. In any event, "Changing Lanes" is a story bearing some nasty truths and that gives it a special edge. A Paramount Pictures release.
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