Double Jeopardy Review
By Joe Lozito
Bore and Order
It's about time that a Hollywood actioner was based on a premise that is simply incorrect: Libby Parsons (Ashley Judd) is wrongly imprisoned for the murder of her husband. When he turns up alive with a new identity, Libby is told by one of her inmate pals (a plucky Roma Maffia) that she can serve her time and then murder her husband because, as far as the law is concerned, she's already committed the crime and can't be tried again for the same crime.
If disbelief isn't stretched enough from this premise, wait till the plot really gets going. Thankfully, Ms. Judd is so sweet and innocent, even when scrubbing a filthy prison wash basin, that you can't help but hate her ex-husband (Bruce Greenwood) for putting her through all this and you really want to see him get his comeuppance.
Libby occupies herself during her sentence (a measly six years with good behavior - what's this world coming to?) by training in the typical movie montage sequence (she benchpresses, she squats, she jogs in the rain). Once she gets out, she immediately ditches her parole officer (Tommy Lee Jones) and goes on her quest. Poor Mr. Jones has never had less motivation to chase a fugitive. His Travis Lehman is a parole officer drummed out of his law practice for DUI. You'd think he would just call the police to handle an escaped convict instead of jetting from Washington to Colorado to New Orleans.
Director Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy, Paradise Road) keeps the familiar plot points coming and paces the film fast enough to hurdle some gaping plot holes. With material like this, there's not much more he can do. Ms. Judd is eminently likeable in a role which, if nothing else, may get her more Hollywood exposure. And Mr. Jones is comfortable in a role that he pretty much perfected in "The Fugitive". At times, however, his character seems a little tired. Either he has chased one too many fugitives, or he's actually watching this movie.
