It’s frightening that in the 21st century sex trafficking is becoming a bigger issue each year. The reason is simple — it’s extremely profitable. Young women are stolen and forced to pay off some imaginary debt that never ends. If they run or talk, they are brutalized. The problem is only worse in the chaos of war zones. But in the early part of the century, the sex trafficking scandal that rocked the U.N. and its contractors was beyond repulsive. Those tasked with protecting the citizens of Bosnia where participating in the rape of them.

Based on the true life scandal, this thriller follows Kathryn Bolkovac (Rachel Weisz, THE CONSTANT GARDENER), a Nebraska cop who signs on to be a peacekeeper in Bosnia for the big paycheck. When she gets there she discovers that many of her fellow peacekeepers are too there for the paycheck, but nothing else. Her efforts to bring some law and order to the country are noticed by higher up human rights activist Madeleine Rees (Vanessa Redgrave, ANONYMOUS). Bolkovac is put in charge of women’s issues and soon discovers sex clubs where the “waitresses” have been forced there against their will. At first she is appalled to find that U.N. officers are frequenting these clubs, but it only gets worse the deeper she goes.

Larysa Kondracki’s film uses the structure of the tried and true internal affairs cop thriller. This makes this difficult story both accessible and engaging, but it never breaks free from the structure. This becomes very apparent toward the end when plot structure and efforts to amp up the tension force credibility to the side. The true life message loses some of its authenticity in the process.

Ever since her Oscar win for CONSTANT GARDENER, Weisz seems very suited for theses kinds of roles. It’s the kind of role Jane Fonda use to play, but Weisz doesn’t dip into the sanctimonious outrage Fonda sometimes exuded. Weisz comes off more matter of fact — like it’s just the right thing to do.

The story is given an emotional side through the plight of Raya (Roxana Condurache), a young girl sold into slavery by someone close to her. Kathryn saves her from one awful situation to put her into another one. The path to get Raya back home is filled with political landmines. Bureaucrat Laura Levin (Monica Bellucci, IRREVERSIBLE) can’t help her get back home because she doesn’t have a passport and she doesn’t have a passport because her captors took it so she can’t get home. Raya is afraid to trust the system, which we come to find is a very valid feeling when it lets her down and puts her back in the clutches of her enslaver.

As Kathryn uncovers how deep the corruption goes, she becomes more and more isolated. It goes too high and would embarrass important people at the contractor, U.N. and the U.S. government. Madeleine teams her with internal affairs officer Peter Ward (David Strathairn, GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.), but how much he can protect her is in question too. Will she have time to save Raya before the powers that be crush her?

The most haunting part is that while Kathryn’s claims were validated by a British labor tribunal, nothing has happened. No one has been charged with crimes. DynCorp., the security firm that provided the peacekeepers, is still used by the U.S. in Iraq and Afghanistan. Makes you rethink a lot.

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It was a surprise when Brendan Gleeson was announced as a Golden Globe nominee for his role as a corrupt, drug using, foul mouthed cop. Once you’ve seen it you’ll know why. He owns the role. The best statement said about his character is he’s either really stupid or really smart.

Gleeson plays Gerry Boyle, a north Ireland police officer who is investigating a recent murder when FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle, HOTEL RWANDA) comes to town on a mission to stop an international drug ring. When Everett shows the local officers pictures of the suspects, Boyle wonders to the African-American agent how they could be drug dealers when their white. Everyone knows all drug dealers are black or Mexican. Boyle’s defense for his racism is that he is Irish and it is part of his culture.

In fact, Boyle is just trying to get a rise out of Everett. He doesn’t like city folk coming into his jurisdiction. He knows that his murder investigation is connected to Everett’s drug case. The two sure make an unlikely pair. Everett just doesn’t understand Boyle’s complete lack of restraint. But one can expect anything from a man who will put a murder investigation on hold for a day so that he can have a fling with two prostitutes.

The best part of Gleeson’s performance is the slyness he brings. Is he purposely trying to be offensive or is he just really naive about black people? Or could it be a bit of both? Why does he speak so openly about his drug use and fornication with hookers around his superiors and Everett? Have the drugs and booze made him clueless or does he know something akin to the “donkey photos” that give him a free ride? Is he the worst cop ever or some kind of Gaelic yojimbo? You’ll change your mind from moment to moment.

How did he get this way? Well when you witness the f bomb filled visits with his mum Eileen (Fionnula Flanagan, FOUR BROTHERS) you’ll get a clue. When he is strapped with a young partner named McBride (Rory Keenan, REIGN OF FIRE), you get the impression that he long ago came to the realization that by-the-book police work is pointless. McBride is from Dublin and for the Galway born Boyle, he might as well be from Wisconsin. Watch how cozy he gets with McBride’s Croatian wife Gabriela (Katarina Cas). And you have to blame the movies. Boyle loves the idea of going out like the cowboys in THE WILD BUNCH, but he’s too smart for suicide.

It’s not a mystery where and when and who the drug dealers are, but Boyle’s involvement is a mystery. He’s got multiple motivations and a lot rides on which one he decides to follow. By the end though, we know for sure whether he is really flippin’ stupid or really flippin’ smart.

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Based on Stieg Larsson’s international bestseller, this film makes this the second time this story has been brought to the screen. The original Swedish version is very fresh in my mind, having made my top 25 list last year, ranking fourth, just behind David Fincher’s THE SOCIAL NETWORK. Now we have Fincher’s version of the same tale in English.

Still set in Sweden, Daniel Craig (CASINO ROYALE) plays journalist Mikael Blomkvist, who has just lost a libel suit after printing a damning report about a successful businessman. Turns out he was set up. Leaving his magazine in disgrace, Mikael takes a job offer from Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer, BEGINNERS), a retired businessman whose family operates one of the largest companies in the country. For decades, Henrik has been investigating the disappearance of his niece Harriet, who he raised like his own. The old man believes one of his family members murdered her.

As Mikael begins his investigation, we meet Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara, THE SOCIAL NETWORK), a skilled computer hacker who conducted the background check on Mikael for Henrik. She is pierced and tattooed and never wears anything that isn’t black. A goth girl with a history of violence, she is a ward of the state and has been assigned a new case worker named Bjurman (Yorick van Wageningen, THE NEW WORLD), a sadistic man who blackmails sex out of Lisbeth. But he doesn’t know who he is dealing with.

Mara, a relative newcomer, was a surprise choice for the coveted role. She gives the character the right dose of vulnerability and chutzpa. For those who have seen Noomi Rapace’s performance it’s hard to not see the influence (whether intended or not) in Mara’s performance. Mara is given a more open version of the character. When Mikael takes an interest in her, she starts to drop her cool demeanor. The tough outside and quick temper is just a shield for her fractured heart. She’s just looking for a friend and an equal, which for her is difficult to come by.

Like the original film version, the story takes its time to set up its two investigators. When their stories merge, it’s like a dream team we’ve been waiting for. Henrik’s family is large so the suspect list is long. Martin (Stellan Skarsgard, GOOD WILL HUNTING) is Harriet’s brother and now runs the family company. He is the only one who supports Henrik’s investigation. Frode (Steven Berkoff, CLOCKWORK ORANGE) is Henrik’s right hand man and his protector. A protector from Henrik himself he says. Anita Vanger (Joely Richardson, ANONYMOUS) is Henrik’s niece who got away from the family the first chance she got. Cecilia (Geraldine James, SHERLOCK HOLMES) is another niece who doesn’t like the coverage of the family. Harald (Per Myrberg) is Henrik’s reclusive brother, who only leaves the house to go hunting.

Surprisingly the script from Steve Zaillian (SCHINDLER’S LIST) is not as subtle as Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg’s Swedish script. In the American version, the moral rabbit hole surrounding the conclusion is eliminated with Mikael simply siding with Lisbeth’s blood lust. I find this a very curious cultural distinction. Having not read the book I can’t say which script kept the most faithful, but what I can say is that the Swedish version handled the end coda with better economy and left Lisbeth more enigmatic.

The Swedish version made Lisbeth just as much of a mystery as the murder mystery. The American version makes her an avenging angel. Driven by a badass performance from Mara, the character remains very compelling still. Part of the joy of both versions is the contrast in investigating styles between Mikael and Lisbeth. It’s the perfect pairing of old school and new. Take from it what you will that Mikael plays by the rules and Lisbeth enjoys breaking every single one.

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This indie has the general premise of KICK-ASS — what if a regular man became a vigilante superhero. But this film isn’t a satire, it takes the story seriously and takes it to the dark realms that it leads. As a character study, it really looks at the personality of someone who goes into the street to find justice while risking their life. The title might be a reference to Batman’s sidekick Robin, but this is not a teen in green, red and yellow tights.

Sean Donovan (Caleb Steinmeyer, TV’s LOST) could easily be described as a boy wonder. He speaks several languages, listens to classical music on his iPod, and spends his days at the police station combing through files looking for the man who murdered his mother. The cops just think he’s a troubled kid looking for some closure and they’re right, but what they don’t know is he’s finding it by hunting down criminals who have gotten away with murder.

Sean has had a tough life. Even before his mother died, he had to deal with his abusive alcoholic father Terry (Bill Sage, MYSTERIOUS SKIN), who has since sobered up, but the damage has already been done. Now a high schooler, Sean has no friends and is quick to anger. He views the world through his rage, making him hyper sensitive to conflict. He sees a mother reprimanding her son and to him it seems like she is threatening the kid when in reality she is calmly telling her son not to hit his little sister.

Teresa Ames (Zulay Henao, FIGHTING) is the new detective in the precinct where Sean hangs out. When a string of murders point to a vigilante, she starts to look toward Sean. What she doesn’t know is that Sean has been watching her for some time now. He’s keenly interested in her most recent case involving the thug Larry Childs (James Russo, DONNIE BRASCO), another lowlife who looks like he might escape justice and had threatened to visit Ames and her young son when he gets free.

For an indie with no big names, casting is always crucial because the film doesn’t have the luxury of getting the added push of celebrity charisma. Performance and story have to draw the viewer in from the start. Director Michael Morrissey has just that cast. Steinmeyer gives Sean a disquieting intensity. He is a “hero,” but is he right? Steinmeyer helps create the ambiguity by being smart and slightly unhinged at the same time. Henao might seem too beautiful to be a cop, but she makes Ames a woman married to her tough job like Mariska Hargitay brings to her detective role on LAW & ORDER: SVU. She’s also aided by being teamed with Daniel Stewart Sherman as her partner Gary Stenson, who is her complete opposite, which provides great comic relief. And finally, Sage has the tough role of being on the opposite course as his son. But can he save his boy from the darkness?

What kind of person actually goes out to commit what they believe are justifiable murders? Are they motivated by justice or revenge? If it’s the latter is it justifiable? BOY WONDER asks these questions right up until the end. The answers get less clear as more details of Sean’s life are revealed to us and him. If he is guilty or innocent you have to decide.

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Interwoven throughout Clint Eastwood’s biopic of J. Edgar Hoover is Hoover dictating his “Untitled FBI Story” to a series of young agents. One agent asks if the story of Hoover and the FBI can be separated. It’s hard to say because for better or worse Hoover was the FBI for most of its existence. He became the Bureau’s head in 1924 and stayed there through eight presidents. He asks another agent who the most famous man in the world is and the agent replies, “You, sir.”

Leonardo DiCaprio crafts a subtle portrait of a man who few truly knew because Hoover didn’t even know himself. In the film, Hoover is portrayed as a do-gooder whose biggest joy is to impress his mother Annie (Judi Dench, JANE EYRE). It is believed that Hoover was a secret drag queen, but the film doesn’t delve into salacious details. It presents the facts fairly straight forward. He was a life long bachelor who lived with his mother until she died. And once the tall, handsome Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer, THE SOCIAL NETWORK) joined the Bureau, they were inseparable. Hoover seems to have a classic case of transference where he moralizes to the public and struggles with secrets behind closed doors.

Personality wise Hoover comes off chiefly paranoid. His desire to monitor every radical in the country is his first motivation, spurred by his fears of the Bolshevik revolution in his early days with the Justice Department. But that paranoia spilled over into rivals and he began to monitor anyone he deemed a threat to him and his beloved FBI. Outside of Tolson and his mother, the only other person he truly trusted was his longtime secretary Helen Gandy (Naomi Watts, KING KONG), who was the keeper and protector of his secret files. While he keep his sex life very private, he had a knack for recording the sex lives of presidents and their wives and using it to keep him firmly in place.

Eastwood, working from MILK writer Dustin Lance Black’s script, seems critical of Hoover, but not unfair. In a poignant voice over moment, Hoover talks about not repeating the mistakes of our past. While he might be talking about radicals, what we’re thinking is all the wiretapping on Americans he has done without warrants. But still, the film pays credit where credit is due and highlights Hoover’s progressive dedication to forensic science, which modernized detective work. The detail of the expert work done in the Lindberg baby kidnapping is like early CSI.

Hoover was a man obsessed with the way things looked, especially himself. He was meticulous about the appearance of his G-men. He asks one agent with a “flashy” suit whether he believes he is working in a saloon. When his skills as a detective are called into question by Congress, he goes out into the field more… or at least to the photo ops more. The image of honest, respected government detectives was something he consciously crafted to the point where the line between fabrication and the truth became blurred. It reminded me of Eastwood’s UNFORGIVEN where the character says if you have the truth and the legend, print the legend.

Some have complained that the film doesn’t go after Hoover enough, needing the savage approach of someone like Oliver Stone. But despite its flaws (the music is too sentimental at times and the ending has too many endings like Eastwood’s CHANGLING), the film is like Stone’s NIXON in many ways. Both films are about two powerful paranoid men who tried to do good, but were brought down by their own foibles. The real tragedy of Hoover’s life is that all he wanted was to be respected, but his pettiness and hypocrisy made him a public shame in many people’s eyes. There was a bit of a radical lurking in his own heart and that was who he was really trying to imprison.

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For a heist to work it needs a good plan, but it also needs perfect execution. Brett Ratner’s heist comedy has a good plan, but doesn’t deliver on the details. It’s inspired by the Bernie Madoff scandal where the fraudulent investor bankrupted the savings of thousands of people. In the film, a wealthy investor runs a similar Ponzi scheme, but in this fiction his victims set out to steal the millions he has hidden in his penthouse apartment.

Josh Kovacs (Ben Stiller, TROPIC THUNDER) is the general manager of the most luxurious apartment tower in New York City. He tells the new elevator operator Enrique (Michael Pena, CRASH) that residents aren’t just buying posh pads and top security, but also the 24-7 attention of the staff. Kovacs is great at his job and impresses the penthouse owner Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda, TV’s MASH). But when Shaw is arrested for fraud, Kovacs has to tell his employees that their pension fund has been wiped out. Feeling responsible, he decides to break into Shaw’s apartment and steal the money he knows is hidden there.

Kovacs believes that his knowledge of everything that goes on at the apartment will give him the advantage. He enlists Enrique because he knows electronics from his days at DeVry. Kovacs also wants Mr. Fitzhugh (Matthew Broderick, FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF), a resident who was evicted from his apartment at The Tower after losing everything in the stock market; his brother-in-law Charlie (Casey Affleck, THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES), who was once the concierge at the apartment complex; and Odessa (Gabourey Sidibe, PRECIOUS), a Jamaican who works as a maid and has other useful skills. But Kovacs knows that his crew are not seasoned criminals, so he enlists a known thief from his neighborhood named Slide (Eddie Murphy, BEVERLY HILLS COP), who gives the guys a crash course on robbing.

Story credit goes to Adam Cooper & Bill Collage and Ted Griffin, with the latter getting screenwriting credit with Jeff Nathanson. The story does a good job setting up its scenario and its characters. Kovacs’ guilt for being the one who asked Shaw to invest the pension fund is relatable. The script gets more personal as the elderly doorman Lester (Stephen Henderson, TV’s LAW & ORDER) is distraught over not being able to retire as planned. FBI agent Claire Denham (Tea Leoni, SPANGLISH) has sympathy for the employees, but gives them the reality of how difficult it will be to recover the money. It all works until the actual heist starts.

If the Tower is supposed to have top of the line security, you have to make us feel it. Kovacs and his crew get in too easily. This starts off a series of coincidences and luck that make up this heist. The plot adds on more complications that make every turn increasingly preposterous and destroys credibility. At one point, it seems that Shaw might get away with his crimes, which compiled with all the obvious things the FBI miss, makes this look like the most incompetent FBI team ever assembled.

If you can skip over all the holes, one might be able to find crowd-pleasing charm in the David versus Goliath tale. But you’re really going to have to turn off logic. The more the plot doesn’t work, the more the other flaws come to the surface. The script doesn’t mine enough humor from the inexperience of its heist crew. These average Joes become Danny Ocean by the end. The problem is that there is nothing as ingenious in this heist as in OCEAN’S ELEVEN. And ingenuity is always the most important part to make any heist film work.

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Despite having the superhero in the title, this animated feature seems less like the Dark Knight’s story and more like that of James Gordon, who at this time is new to the Gotham police department. Based on what is hailed as a seminal comic series from writer Frank Miller and artist David Mazzucchelli, the transition from the page to the screen is faithful, but also highlights the differences between mediums.

Bruce Wayne (Ben McKenzie, TV’s SOUTHLAND) was returned to Gotham from training abroad. He has begun the preparation for becoming the vigilante, but hasn’t found his identity yet. Jim Gordon (Bryan Cranston, TV’s BREAKING BAD) is the new lieutenant in town, having been exiled to the most corrupt city after smoking out police corruption in his last post. His wife Barbara (Grey DeLisle, TV’s THE FAIRLY ODDPARENTS) is pregnant and he is guilty to bring a new child into this dirty, grim world.

The stories of Wayne and Gordon cross over the course, but they don’t seem to have the same weight. Both are interesting, but Gordon’s seems the most original and nuanced. Cranston provides a wonderful voice performance, giving the tormented police officer a personality in turmoil. The corruption of the city starts to creep into his soul and that’s not good when your partner looks like the beautiful Sarah Essen (Katee Sackhoff, TV’s BATTLESTAR GALACTICA). He has the nearly impossible task of being true to himself, while navigating the twisted politics of the police department that is not beneath fire bombing innocent people. Now he is tasked with hunting down a giant bat.

McKenzie doesn’t have the weight of voice for the Batman role that others have, notably Bruce Greenwood from last year’s wonderful BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD. As the fledgling hero, he makes mistakes that get him hurt and trapped. You get a glimpse at him learning on the job. What I felt was missing was a more in depth look at his foreign training. It’s a problem that comes with being slavishly faithful to the source. Also it seems less fresh because we’ve seen Batman’s origin before and the struggling new hero has been handled in various versions before. The comic was first, but BATMAN BEGINS and the imitators have made it to film first.

The third most important character is Gotham. The story does a great job of setting the tone of hellish city. We really feel the great slope that Gordon and Batman have to climb. There isn’t one villain, but a city full of them. The corrupt police force is led by Commissioner Loeb (Jon Polito, MILLER’S CROSSING). He is just another dinner guest of gangster Carmine Falcone (Alex Rocco, THE GODFATHER). Prostitutes and pimps fill the streets. But the Batman inspires one to put on a cat suit and trade tricks for burglary. Selina Kyle aka Catwoman (Eliza Dushku, TV’s BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER) seems crammed into the story a bit, but is interestingly recast as a black dominatrix.

For the most part, the comic was used as a storyboard start for the film. The pacing of a four-issue comic is so different than a film. At just little over an hour, more time could have been taken to create more tension. But one has to respect the devotion to the source and the quiet moments that are not common for animation made in the U.S. The origin of Gordon really makes him a true partner for Batman. They have the same goals and need each other. Gotham is not a place for angels… but these flawed men will do.

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The first THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS was a nice surprise. Engaging characters, nice car stunts made for an enjoyable ride. The second outing suffers from what so many sequels suffer from. It’s like comparing a new Mustang with the original. The new version is shiny and glossy and has some of the same elements that made the original good, but there is nothing under the hood.

Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker, PLEASANTVILLE), the undercover cop from the first film, is under suspicion for letting his last target go.  So he decides to take the street racing skills he learned in the first film and move to Miami. After a race he is nabbed by U.S. Customs who knows all about his past. They are working with the FBI to take down Argentinian drug lord Carter Verone (Cole Hauser, PITCH BLACK). Brian is made a deal that his record will be cleared if he goes undercover to nab Verone. Because he needs a partner he recruits his old friend Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson, BABY BOY), who is doing some time. And because they need a sexy female partner, they are teamed with Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes, GHOST RIDER), who has been posing as Verone’s girlfriend for months.

The biggest problem with this film is the absence of Vin Diesel. He was the most interesting part of the original and Gibson is not a fitting replacement. Walker, who was convincing in the first outing, feels awfully awkward as the “down” white guy. His stiff performance combined with Gibson’s slightly over the top performance sucks credibility from every moment.

Director John Singleton seems to be having fun with the material, but it comes off as having too much fun. It seems like he doesn’t take one bit of it seriously, so why should we? The first film had an edge and we felt there was something on the line, but this one feels like it wants to be a buddy comedy, but there aren’t any jokes. The most unsettling part is the gleeful abandon that excessive violence is handled. Roman repeatedly stomping on someone is played for laughs. I was cringing.

Additionally, the drug element in the first film was not nearly as interesting as the underground racing world. The importance of the two elements are flipped here, making this one more of a standard undercover crime flick. Now don’t get me wrong there are lots of pretty cars that drive fast, but too often it means nothing. Take for instance a big drag race sequence where the guys are racing to get new cars. Get new cars? It doesn’t make for gripping motivation and on top of that it’s heavy reliance on visual effects makes it cartoonish. And worst of all it goes on forever. Oh and let’s not get into the concluding action sequence that makes the action in DUKES OF HAZZARD look plausible.

For a car movie, the film delivers on that promise. There are a lot of cars. But that’s like saying the forest delivers on trees and watching trees is boring. This is some of the worst action I’ve seen in awhile, because it has no value to the plot. There are long, absurd chases and the crime story. They exist on two separate planes the entire movie. It really doesn’t matter because both parts don’t work either together or on their own. To call this film a car wreck would be too easy. This film doesn’t even have an engine so it’s sitting in the driveway rusting.

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It’s hard to make a film where the female lead may or may not be a participant in one of the most heinous crimes in American history. Robert Redford’s film attempts just that. What level of guilt she does have is not the point. This is a film about ideals and defending them in the most trying times. The story might be almost 150 years old, but it still resonates today.

Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy, X-MEN: FIRST CLASS) fought in the Civil War for the Union where he was wounded in battle. After the war, he returned to law. He like so many Americans was shook to his core when President Abraham Lincoln was murdered. Senator Reverdy Johnson (Tom Wilkinson, MICHAEL CLAYTON), who was key in keeping Maryland from seceding, took accused conspirator Mary Surratt (Robin Wright, THE PRINCESS BRIDE) on as a client out of principle. But he felt as a Southerner, he only hurt the woman’s case, so he enlists the reluctant Aiken to take his place.

The accused plotters were not given civilian trials. A military jury made up of generals hand selected by War Secretary Edwin Stanton (Kevin Kline, A FISH CALLED WANDA) was set up. The accused were not allowed to see any of the evidence against them ahead of time and were not permitted to testify in their defense. Stanton, who was the de facto leader in Washington, was going to swiftly try these killers and let the country heal.

At first Aiken believes all the terrible things that have been printed in the newspapers about his client. Did you know she wears a necklace made of the bones of a Union soldier around her neck? Aiken’s fiancee Sarah Weston (Alexis Bledel, SIN CITY) comes to the trial to try to figure out why he would defend such an evil person. But the more Aiken knows about Mary and the worse her treatment under a kangaroo court gets, the more determined he becomes in giving her the best defense he can give. There is a chance that Mary’s worst crime is defending her son John (Johnny Simmons, JENNIFER’S BODY), who fell in with the wrong crowd.

McAvoy and Wright bring heart to their characters even though they are opposite in many ways. McCoy’s Aiken is passionate and determined. He is a man of principle who will even go against his client’s own wishes in order to try and save her life. Wright makes Mary introverted. She rarely shows any emotion, which makes it even harder to believe that she is innocent. But over time we do see where her passions lie. She asks Aiken if he has ever fought for something greater than himself and the lawyer says that is what he did in the war. She replies that is what she is doing now for her son.

Those attune to current politics will quickly draw connects to the stories of Jose Padilla, the American terrorist who was bounced around the court system until the government could find something to charge him with that would stick, and Troy Davis, a man executed whose guilt came into great question. While the film never overtly refers to these incidents, it shows us that in difficult times over the course of American history we have struggled with the same issues regarding the principles of justice.

The questions it brings up are numerous. If we bend the rules in trying times, how far will we bend? If the worst of the worst make us change our ideals, have they won? If we claim that the bending of the rules is only for the worst of the worst, who determines who is the worst of the worst? If the American judicial system is a beacon for the rest of the world, shouldn’t it shine brightest in these cases? Where is the line between justice and revenge?

Redford made this film with The American Film Company, a new production house created to make historically accurate productions about important but little known historical events. James D. Solomon painstakingly researched the true events for the screenplay. Authenticity shines through in every aspect of the production. The dust and smoke from the gas lamps in the courtroom is a distinct touch, while adding a mysterious element to the proceedings as well. And some nice visual effects show off how wide open Washington D.C. was in those days.

In many ways, Aiken risks more in defending Surratt than he did in the war. In both fights, he risked his life, but the war made him an honorable hero, while fighting for the same rights in the court made him an outcast. Mary Surratt holds the distinction of being the first woman executed in American history. The fact that she was railroaded through a sham trial and denied so many of the basic rights all Americans should be afforded under law puts a greater pall over that distinction. Swift justice is no justice at all if it is wrong.

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When Steven Russell meets Phillip Morris in prison he catches a terminal cancer called love. He is consumed with giving Phillip the world. To do so he pays off guards, poses as a lawyer to get Phillip released early and scams millions out of a health care company in order to fund their lavish lifestyle. Oh what a guy won’t do for love.

Jim Carrey plays Steve Russell, who at the start of the film is a married cop who plays the organ at church every week, which he attends with his June Cleaver wife Debbie (Leslie Mann, KNOCKED UP). As a child, he was adopted through some not so legal means. He uses his access at work to locate his real mother to find out why she sold him. After that doesn’t work out too well, he moves his family away. Following a car accident, he declares that he has been living a lie and boldly comes out as gay.

So he moves to Miami where he gets a pretty young boyfriend named Jimmy (Rodrigo Santoro, 300). Wanting to live a luxurious lifestyle, he begins all kinds of scams. He eventually gets caught and ends up in jail where he meet the vulnerable Phillip Morris, played by Ewan McGregor (MOULIN ROUGE!). Steven says he’s a lawyer and wants to protect Phillip, using all kinds of bribes to get special privileges. After Steven is released, he poses as Phillip’s lawyer and gets him an early release. Steven then goes right back into scamming, this time talking his way into becoming the CFO for a company, where he embezzles millions from them.

Astonishingly the film is based on a true tale. Part of the fun is watching Steven devise his elaborate scams to make money or break out of jail. They don’t always work, but he never stops trying. His plots are so audacious that he embarrasses authorities. In many ways it reminded me of Frank Abagnale Jr., whose real-life scams were brought to the screen by Leonardo DiCaprio in CATCH ME IF YOU CAN.

Directors/writers Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE.) plays the material broadly. Even though many of the punch lines are simply “gay sex act” Jim Carrey’s full-steam-ahead performance makes it all funny. Ironically Steven lives a false life as a straight man and simply leaves that life to live another false life. Despite all the lies Carrey sells the idea that Steven truly does love Phillip, but after living a simple life for so long he has become drunk on the fabulous world. McGregor gives Phillip such vulnerability that we understand why he loves the protection Steven gives him, but fear his devastation when the lies finally get the best of him.

At the end, the question is who is Steven Russell? The shock of being adopted seems to have put the question in his mind at a young age. When he invents new personas, he delves into them completely. He truly becomes that person. Some have questioned if his “love” for Phillip is real or just another persona. I think the fact that getting and keeping Phillip in his life from the moment they met lasts across multiple schemes says a lot about his true feelings. Just ask his wife how easy the people of an old persona can be dumped.

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