ARLINGTON ROAD (Jeff Bridges, Tim Robbins) (1999) Do you know who your friendly neighbors actually are? And could they be the same folks who blew up the federal building in a large Midwestern metropolis and intending to do even worse right in the heart of the nations capital? And can a history professor, who has lost his FBI agent wife in a bust that went very wrong a few years back, can save us from the impending disaster? This thriller, with a script that won the prestigious Nichols screenplay competition in 1996, is a good watch. The ending is especially noteworthy. It is as good as the ending of the SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Both lead actors do their jobs well. No problem there either. Supporting cast also shine. But there is a whopper of a coincidence towards the end of the movie that enables Bridges to see and follow the white van that carry both his kidnapped son and the explosives that is hard to swallow! Too much. What are the chances of just seeing The Van drive by when you are checking out the public phone at a shopping mall that your murdered girlfriend has last seen using? How many times in life people just happen to stumble upon such crucial evidence in broad daylight, in as busy a public domain as a shopping mall? That ruined the whole viewing experience for me. A good thriller if you can just gloss over that kind of a gaping hole in the script. A 6 out of 10. |
