The viewer, like the characters themselves, has to work out what is happening and why

Rating: 10/10 (10 June 2013)

A series of intertwined circumstances on a rainy night in Nevada results in 11 people spending a night they didn't expect in a motel.
One of the strangers is Robert Maine (Jake Busey), a death row murderer being escorted to another prison for execution. When bodies start turning up and the murderer goes missing, he's the obvious suspect. But things are not what they seem, and no-one is safe...
A side plot (or is it?) involves a last-minute review of the death sentence of the prisoner with disassociative identity disorder.
It's a large cast but John Cusack, Ray Liotta, John Hawkes, Alfred Molina, John McGinley and William Lee Scott all give fine believable performances in this postmodern Agatha Christie-like tale. The fact that there are so many characters sort of dilutes the impact of any one of them and I like that. Why do we always have to have a lead star going up for the awards? However, Amanda Peet and Clea Duvall are more than a match for any of the male performers.
James Mangold and Michael Cooney as director and writer respectively deserve a lot of credit for creating a tight script and delivering a tight screenplay. There's nothing overly showy here, the pace never drops and the viewer, like the characters themselves, is constantly attempting to work out what is happening and why. This is a classic, massively underrated film.