Great concept, bad actors

Rating: 8/10 (4 November 2000)

I just kind of stumbled onto this movie so I had absolutely no idea what it was about. Didn't even see any shots of the movie itself, nor the cover art.
Going in, I'd have to say the premise is one of the best I've heard so far. All these people, all so very different, situated in one small area with one common potentially lethal dilemma. It's fantastic. They never revealed how they got there or who put them there but that's part of what makes it good. About 30 minutes into the movie, it dawned on me that this is basically something like a Tales From the Darkside or a Twilight Zone that got made into a movie. Both those shows were primarily made of great stories woven around a small number of characters and cheap sets. This is what the movie basically was. If you liked those shows, you'll enjoy this movie.
The only drawback I saw were the acting. Some of the primary characters, the cop for one, absolutely sucked. It was nice how he tried to appear the nice leader at first and changed, but overall that guy is not a very good actor. The autistic guy was horrible as well. Must all autistic people be good at math or have good memory? Well, in Hollywood they all do it seems. Worth's character was very well acted though. I liked him a lot and hope to see more in the future.
I'll admit though that one bad showing doesn't mean they'll always be bad. Just look at Hillary Swank from The New Karate Kid and then compare that to Boys Don't Cry.
Overall I gave it a 8. Worthy of a rental for sure.