By Terry Keefe
88 Minutes has been finished for some time, but it’s difficult to understand why the release of this Al Pacino thriller has been delayed for so long. Is it deep? No. But it's a real fun ride through a neo-noir world with the one and only Pacino as your guide. Directed by Jon Avnet and produced by Avi Lerner for his Millennium Films, the film is an enjoyable suspenser, with a prime supporting cast which includes Benjamin McKenzie, Leelee Sobieski, Alicia Witt, Deborah Kara Unger, Amy Brenneman, William Forsythe, and Neal McDonough. Note to other producers: this is the type of supporting cast you can get when you’ve got the likes of Pacino in the lead. Most actors are just happy for the opportunity to do scenes with him.
Pacino plays a forensic scientist and serial killer expert named Dr. Jack Gramm, who, years before, helped put away a murdering sociopath named Jon Forster (McDonough). On the eve of Forster’s execution, Gramm receives a cell phone call telling him that he has 88 minutes to live. Gramm sets about trying to find the source of the call himself, and the potential suspects include just about everyone he knows, including a group of attractive twentysomething students of his which include McKenzie, Sobieski, and Witt. Avnet does a nice job of setting up the red herrings and keeping us guessing as to who the real killer is right until the end. And appropriate to the title, the film is tight, with rapid pacing which never lingers long enough for us to doubt the logic of the set-up.
88 Minutes opens Friday in wide release.
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