Sharp Performances Dulled By a Script That Slips Into the Absurd

Rating: 6/10 (26 May 2014)

The first 20 minutes of Flight are fantastic and riveting. Denzel Washington gives an amazing performance of an alcoholic airline pilot with incomparable flying skills, who gets caught in a sticky situation. The rest of the cast, including Don Cheadle and Bruce Greenwood, are rock solid.
Unfortunately, after the first half hour or so, it begins sliding into a color-by-numbers, overly formulaic script that contains more coincidences, improbabilities, and absurd events than any script should be expected to withstand. Then adds quite a bit of schmaltz on top of it.
I won't give away any details, but will only say that those improbabilities grow so extreme that by the last 20 minutes of the film, it's absolutely groan worthy. And it's a shame, because Mr. Washington gives such a strong performance, and Mr. Zemeckis is a top-notch director. However, it seems that no matter how much the screenwriter or director wanted to do an edgy movie, they both find a way of cleaning it up and sanding down any rough corners.