88 Minutes

Starring: Al Pacino, Alicia Witt, Neal McDonough
Directed by: Jon Avnet (“Red Corner”)
Written by: Gary Scott Thompson (“Hollow Man”)

When 88 minutes feels like an eternity, not even the great Al Pacino can do anything to remedy the problems or put it out of its misery. It doesn’t help that writer Gary Scott Thompson (“Hollow Man”) throws everything (including the kitchen sink) into one mess of a screenplay.

Pacino, who honestly hasn’t done anything worth mentioning since 2002’s “Insomnia” plays Dr. Jack Gramm, a forensic psychiatric whose sketchy testimony during the trial of a serial killer becomes grounds for revenge.

Shot in real time (the movie is only 88 minutes long once Dr. Gramm picks up the phone and the voice on the other end tells him he has exactly that much time to live), “88 Minutes” is preposterous telephone drama comparable to films like “Cellular” where most of the dialogue is spoken into a receiver and the story progresses under forced circumstances.