Changing Lanes *** ½
Directed by: Roger Michell
Written by: Chap Taylor (story and screenplay) and Michael Tolkin (screenplay)
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Affleck, Amanda Peet, Sidney Pollack, Toni Collette and William Hurt
Rated R (violence and philosophy)

This is going to be one strange review.

When I was leaving the theatre, “All You Need Is Love” by The Beatles was playing on the radio, and a stray, soggy, muddy, lonely St. Bernard was wandering around the parking lot. That sums up everything I feel about the movie. Should I have helped the dog? Yes. I swear to you that the dog was looking at me, but didn’t want to beg to come with me. I could have let the dog into my truck, but then what? I don’t have room in my apartment for a St. Bernard. Especially a soggy one. Plus, I can’t have pets anyway. There’s doing what’s right, and there’s doing what’s legal, and they’re not always the same thing. What happens when doing the right thing isn’t possible because of the world you live in? What happens when you try to do the right thing, and everything works against you?

I’m rambling.

Here’s my synopsis. Please note that what you see in the previews doesn’t even come close to showing what the movie is about. Gavin Banek (Affleck) is a lawyer. One of his clients died recently. Before this client died, he signed documents giving control of his trust fund to Gavin’s law firm, rather than the board of trustees that the client had established. Doyle Gipson (Jackson) is a recovering alcoholic going through a custody battle. His wife loves him, but she just can’t be with him anymore. I won’t explain more than that. Gavin and Doyle are both going to the courthouse on the same day. Someone cuts someone else off, resulting in Doyle’s car slamming into a bunch of barrels on FDR in New York. Hey, that’s fine, things happen. Traffic was heavy, they’re both in a hurry, everyone is cool. Gavin offers to give Doyle a blank check for repairs. “No, I wanna do this the right way,” replies Doyle. Gavin doesn’t have time to do it the right way. Of course, neither does Doyle, but, he really thinks that he should. Gavin leaves Doyle stranded on the expressway, but leaves behind a very important file. Gavin needs the file for the hearing he is going to, and Doyle winds up missing his custody hearing. Begin escalation of vengeance... NOW.

Changing Lanes is about America, and about humanity. It’s about living in a world where doing the right thing will land you in jail, but doing the wrong thing will help hundreds of disadvantaged children. It’s about living in a world where blackmailing your boss can keep a family together. It’s about living in a world where the son of a man who made his family’s fortune smuggling booze during prohibition is elected President of the United States. The movie hates that world, and will do everything it can to make you hate it, too. Then, it takes it one step further – it shows you how you can kill that world.

There are no good guys or bad guys in this movie. There are just people doing what they think is necessary to get what they want. They’re not unscrupulous, just desperate. Each person has what the other needs to live his life has he knows it. I’m gonna stop this subject right now, because I will just wind up rambling some more.

I’m gonna skip my usual thoughts on the various aspects of the film (story, acting, etc.), because I really need to wrap my head around some stuff. I will say this, however: I didn’t know that Affleck could act that well.

When you go to see this (and you should), be warned – it moves slowly. It needs to. In order for Ben and Sam’s Very Bad Day to work, you need to be dragged along with it. Ever have one of those bad days that just doesn’t end? The pacing in this matches that mood perfectly. But, trust me, you’ve never had a day as bad as either of these guys.