The Curve
You might have heard people say they'd kill to get into Harvard. Well, here's a film that takes it literally.  There's a legendary rule at many universities, so the film posits, that if your roommate commits suicide you can take a 4.0 GPA for the semester.  Tim (Matthew Lillard ofScreamfame, in yet another of his patented psycho roles) plans with his roommate Chris (Michael Vartan) to kill a third roommate Rand (Randall Batinkoff) so they can collect their 4.0s and get Chris a Harvard M.B.A.  As Chris says, "Either it's a Harvard M.B.A. or you're flipping burgers."  No elevated thinker, Chris.  Rand is a cruel jerk to his Sandy Dennis-like girlfriend, Natalie (Tamara Craig Thomas), so it's hard to miss him when he's gone.  But that sentiment applies equally to nearly every other character in the picture, including Chris's girlfriend Emma (Keri Russell), who seems to be the most sympathetic of the group.  That's the movie's strength; you think you know everyone but you don't.  And that's also its greatest weakness; you need to know and like these people for the film to work.  If you can stomach these people (in which case counseling might be in order), the exceedingly twisty-turny plot  will keep you entertained to the last amazing revelation.  Otherwise, you might want to keep searching for a thriller that gives its people an inner life worth viewing.The Curvewas snatched from Sundance for a distribution deal by Trimark, but wound up in this direct-to-video release instead.--Jim Gay