Reality TV meets the Junior CSI

Rating: 3/10 (29 December 2014)

'Spoiler alert'- the ending of this movie sucked harder than a Dyson! Many of us watch movies for entertainment and some of us in the audience also crave escape from reality. If you want to suspend your normal/intelligent life, this movie (notice I did not say film) might be for you. Early on, I caught myself thinking of Ben Afleck as the new Richard Gere, a guy who made good in one film and has now gone on to star in B-grade flicks thanks to his looks, but that is a slam to Ben, who likely just needs a better agent or help managing his cash. The acting from Ben and Carrie Coon (plays his sis in movie) is good and the staging of a tired (TV drama) plot is decent enough. Sadly, as the action escalates towards a climax, it becomes far too obvious that the intended audience is the somewhat brain addled bunch who enjoys daytime TV 'talk' shows and hyped-up news shows which hype up crime stories. If you can suspend reality and forget that cops (especially detectives following up on a possible murder/kidnapping and rape) check for fingerprints, dig through computer/cellular records, and follow up on even small leads, you might yet give this 'roll of celluloid' a five or more of ten. But that ain't me: I give it a 3!