Changing Lanes
Product Type: DVD
Product Price: $9.98
Manufacturer: Paramount
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Description
Road rage causes a minor accident on New York's FDR Drive to spiral out of control when the white attourney and the African American salesman involved in the accident subsequently attempt to ruin each other's lives.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 29-DEC-2004
Media Type: DVD
Impeccably crafted and smarter than your average thriller, Changing Lanes proves that revenge is a dish best served cold. A high-powered attorney (Ben Affleck) learns that lesson the hard way after he flees the scene of an accident involving an insurance salesman (Samuel L. Jackson) who holds a powerful advantage in his retaliatory strike against the lawyer's arrogant behavior. Affleck has everything to gain if he can retrieve a lost document from Jackson, who has everything to lose (wife, family, savings) when threatened with financial sabotage. To his versatile credit, Notting Hill director Roger Michell never plays the race card in this escalating battle of wills, focusing instead on the percolating resentments of men at opposite ends of the economic scale. As he did in Eyes Wide Shut, actor-director Sydney Pollack chillingly embodies the venal elite in a pivotal supporting role, and Changing Lanes potently illustrates the wisdom of heeding a guilty conscience. --Jeff Shannon
Reviews
Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-09-05
Summary: "The RajMan Review"
There are movies that I will watch over and over again for as long as I live. And there are movies that, regardless of whether they're good or bad, once I've seen them, I'm good for life. And then there are those movies that fall into neither camp but were so compelling the first time around that, when the opportunity arises, I would watch them again. Changing Lanes is one such movie.
The 2002 drama aired last Thursday on My9 Network in the New York City area, and once again I found myself deeply engrossed in the drama of two motorists (Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson) who, after getting into an accident on a New York City highway, proceed to turn each other's life upside down and in the process become unraveled by their own doing. What starts out as a road rage thriller turns into a soul-baring personal journey of self-discovery and the quest for ethical equilibrium in a world in which the end justifies the means.
Dylan Baker exudes reptilian slime as a cyber "fixer" who helps Affleck unleash virtual demons on Jackson. And the outstanding William Hurt provides great support as Jackson's Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor, who tries to rescue Jackson from demons in a bottle.
I am not a fan of Affleck, and Jackson is more fun and larger than life in his big franchise roles such as the Star Wars prequels and the Marvel superhero movies and kitsch such as Shaft, Snakes on a Plane, and The Other Guys. However, Changing Lanes stands among the finest work of both of their careers and is a cinematic gem worth seeking out.
Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-08-07
Summary: "More pessimistic than I you die"
One more lawyer in one more law firm and one more crooked situation. He is married to the daughter of the boss who is a crook and stealing money from some foundation. Circumstances put him in a road accident when he is on his way to the court with a man who is an Alcoholic Anonymous, divorced, in a lawsuit with his ex-wife about the custody of the kids and is on the way to the same court. The lawyer drops a file that is essential for his case and he strands the other man on the highway on foot. Both are late in court. The lawyer manages his way out under a strict deadline condition. The other one loses his case. And then everything goes down because each one will try to pressurize the other into repairing the damage and they will cause even more damage by doing so. The film then is a thriller in a way since we expect any moment more violence and more retribution and more vengeance. Dependence is the worst thing that can hit a man, be it tobacco, alcohol, drugs or plain catastrophe or anti-social reactions. Lawyers are all crooked and perverted and sick in their minds and you can decide to do more good everyday than you do evil, if you are a lawyer you can be sure you will never keep that word. So you better give five dollars to the beggar round the corner in the street: that will probably be the only good action you will do today. Good action? My foot! Since that money is going to enrich a bar tender because the bum is going to drink it. And if you are a mischief maker, a catastrophe bringer, a crash perpetrator, you better stop drinking, stop smoking, stop getting under the influence of anything and retire into some kind of padded monastery or reclusion center for the mentally insane because there is no way you will change and the world will change. So better get used to it and let things go down the chute from bad to worse and then to the worst. Apart from that dark vision of life the film will keep you up for a while, awake too, because of the rather fast rhythm.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Paris 8 Saint Denis, University Paris 12 Créteil, CEGID
Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2010-07-15
Summary: "Has To Be A Monday. . ."
Been there, done that. You have an important event coming up in the day, then something totally unexpected happens to throw you off your game and disorient you, then the next thing you know you're spending the rest of your time fighting uphill. So I lended a sympathetic eye to the intriguing film CHANGING LANES, when a young attorney (Ben Affleck) on his way to court to file a questionable document at best has a fender bender with an insurance salesman (Samuel L. Jackson) on his way to court to salvage his family and his life. Once Affleck leaves the scene (and his highly prized document) everything starts to unravel, pitting the two men against each other in ever-increasing altercations of rancor and anger. Yet as both men find their respective situations spinning out of control, both also learn some very basic things--about themselves.
Affleck and Jackson are superb; they're totally and utterly believable as honorable men who find it all too easy to cross the civility line and allow darker thoughts to prevail. Yet they both show their characters as men with consciences; this dichotomy is riveting to watch. Compound this with the fact Jackson's character is a recovering alcoholic and the tension becomes even more compelling. Other noteworthy performances include William Hurt as Jackson's sponsor and the ever-great Sydney Pollack as Affleck's unscrupulous father-in-law and senior law partner. This is exceptional drama, although at times Jackson is a tad over the top (but name me a performance where he isn't). CHANGING LANES is like having a whole month of Bad Mondays.
--D. Mikels, Author, The Reckoning
Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2010-03-15
Summary: "A bad day at the office"
These two guys have one incredibly off day trying to best each other in Manhattan as they play out a struggle over conflicting goals and desires, each inadvertently sabotaging the other. Very smart script here. It builds as each incident combines to gather steam towards a finale that, while predictable, at least comes after some great dialogue by all concerned. No, it's not the least bit credible, if you stop and think about it. But it is a movie after all, so we suspend our cynical views and watch the steamroller go on to conclusion. The end is a little ambiguous. But this movie is about the journey.
Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2009-06-04
Summary: "Smart n Sharp Urban Blues BD"
A city highway bumper becomes a major modern tragedy. The clash and the conflict provide a rich and engaging drama that is rewatchable for enjoyment and a catharthis for your angst. The disc is state of the art; the source is modest. The result is a BD of a great movie that is a relative of Falling Down.