If it doesn’t fit, just don’t see it

If it doesn’t fit, just don’t see it

With Oscar-perennial Meryl Streep, Irish-hunk Liam Neeson, and
acclaimed-director Barbet Schroeder, all the pieces seem to be
lined up for success with "Before and After." Too bad the fragments
of this mangled jigsaw puzzle just don’t connect.

By Dina Gachman

Daily Bruin Contributor

A murder. A suspect. A shadow of a doubt.

This little pitch is supposed to intrigue us – to grab
moviegoers by the wallet and lure them into the theater. Throw
Meryl Streep and Liam Neeson in there and Hollywood believes it’s
got a real blockbuster on its hands.

There is just a small problem with this theory. "Before and
After" is trash, and it cannot be saved by the power of a few
stars’ names.

The movie tells the story of a small-town New England family
torn apart by the accusation that their teen-age son Jacob (Edward
Furlong) has committed a murder. He is, of course, a sweet kid from
a good family, and his Eddie Bauer-clad parents shrink in their
flannels and oh-so-New England overcoats when they learn that their
only son is missing and wanted by police.

If Streep and Neeson give believable, standard performances as
Jacob’s distraught parents, Furlong ("Terminator II") gives
basically nothing. He flits around the screen like a trapped
insect. It is hard to tell whether Furlong wants to bring a sense
of apathy and detachment to his character, or if he just could care
less that he was on camera. He succeeds at looking pitiful and
depressed, even with his natural high-pitched whine, but he fails
to get any real sympathy from the audience.

Added to Furlong’s shallow performance is the utterly cliche and
hackneyed story of "Before and After." The truth about the
accident, which occurred on Poor Farm Road (a name that wouldn’t
sound so sappy if it was maybe penned by Stephen King) is revealed
within 45 minutes, so the suspense and mystery of the crime don’t
even stick around to carry the movie. The last half concerns the
family’s struggle to stay together, and the parents’ attempts to
save their "boy," even if it means destroying evidence.

Barbet Schroeder ("Single White Female") sloppily directs this
almost untolerable piece of Hollywood refuse. He mixes in all the
emotions and conflicts of a good TV movie, adds a very dramatic
musical score, and blends it all with the touch of a director who
has been seduced by the charms of a big budget. The screenplay (by
Ted Tally who penned the Academy Award-winning "The Silence of the
Lambs") even throws in a liberal bit of feminism – Streep is a
doctor, and her husband Neeson is an artist. How original, and
unconvincing. Neeson’s character may be a rebellious, independent
kind of guy – but wouldn’t he at least shave for his son’s murder
trial? Schroed er doesn’t seem to think so.

Schroeder and Tally let the story slip into jumbled, often out
of place scenes. In the midst of worrying themselves sick over
Jacob’s fate, Streep and Neeson fall into each others arms and
desperately make love on their nice four poster bed. This is both
awkward and misplaced. Streep and Neeson have no chemistry
together, emotionally or sexually. Their acting really only
succeeds when they don’t share the screen. Both are undoubtedly
talented performers, but their only mistake was choosing to do this
film.

Without all of the cliches, "Before and After" would still be a
lame attempt at dramatic suspense. There is no climax, no mystery,
and very little emotion. Even when there is a heartfelt moment, the
effect is more often laughter than sympathy. It seems that the
movie was put together with the biggest, brightest puzzle pieces
that Hollywood could find. But the pieces just do not fit. If you
do decide to see this movie, do yourself a favor and sit near the
aisles. Otherwise you may feel helplessly trapped for a long two
hours.

One final downfall of "Before and After" is that Schroeder and
Tally seem oblivious to the fact that the story sounds oddly
familiar to a movie-going, TV-watching public. You only need to
skim over the pitch again to see the parallels – A murder. A
suspect. A shadow of a doubt. Plus destroyed evidence, and the fact
that the audience got a kick out of screaming "OJ!" throughout the
movie. But a few real-life coincidences do not define "Before and
After." It has plenty of its own faults to distinguish it as an
original.

FILM: "Before and After" Opens everywhere today. Grade: F

(l-r) Director Barbet Schroeder, Liam Neeson and Meryl Streep on
the set of "Before and After," in theaters today.

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