In Pursuit (2000) from Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy; Greg Wroblewski)

There is nothing to say about this movie except "avoid it"
Here's the basic summary.

The chubby Baldwin is a lawyer. He stops to help a female motorist one night, and takes some pictures of her car, for insurance purposes. Later that night he's picked up on a DUI, but in the morning he's arraigned for murder. But he escapes from prison. He knows that either the motorist or the pictures can alibi him.

NUDITY REPORT

there is a fleeting look at Claudia Schiffer's buns
  • Turns out that he and his lover were blackmailing the murder victim, just as the D.A. said. (It took him a long time to admit this to his own lawyer!),
  • But it later turns out that his lover (Claudia Schiffer) may or may not have framed him for the murder (he's not sure whether to trust her, and the script keeps leading us back-and-forth)
  • then it turns out that the murder victim is his own father (he never told this to the lawyer either)
  • and finally it turns out that the murder victim isn't dead at all, and is looking remarkably sprightly for a dead man, having faked his own death.

Dad's new lease on life doesn't last long, because the lover/doublecrosser killed the "victim" a second time (oh, yeah, she was also the father's lover), and although dad didn't fake that second death, he still managed to come back and get involved in several more plot twists, and was still remarkably sprightly for a man with several bullets in him who was given up for dead.

And even the stranded motorist turned out to be a set-up. In one brief sequence after the jailbreak, Baldwin coincidentally sees the stranded motorist in her car, just hanging out in San Diego (it's a small town), but if that weren't enough of a concidence, she runs out of her car when he slides in, then she commandeers a passing car, and is immediately hit by a passing truck.

And you know that lawyer that Baldwin lies to constantly? He ends the movie with her as his new girlfriend after he dumps Claudia Schiffer.

The plot is rambling, and I'm still confused about why people did what they did. The acting is often on the dinner theater level. One character comes back from the dead twice, and another escapes from a maximum security prison through a vent, and escapes a sinking, burning boat while he's trapped below. (Well, just for the sake of info, here's how - he goes underneath the burning gas-soaked water in the hull, takes the fire ax with him. While submerged and holding his breath with the fire raging just inches above his head, he uses the axe to make a bigger hole in the hull, and swims through it.)

Everyone turns out to be everyone else's lover or father, and every character lies or withholds facts from every other character at all times, and there are about 10 consecutive completely unbelievable coincidences, and ...

... and I'm not going to remember anything more about this. Its too painful.

DVD info from Amazon.

  • Widescreen letterbox

  • Full-length director/writer commentary

I can't come up with any plusses about this film. Not one. You must avoid it because if you try to watch it, it will constantly confuse and irritate you.

It has no good points. It is more comprehensible than "Glam", so it's not the worst movie of the past year, but it made a pretty good run at it.

The Critics Vote

  • no reviews

The People Vote ...

IMDb guideline: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence, about like three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, about like two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, about like two stars from the critics. Films under five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film, equivalent to about one and a half stars from the critics or less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Based on this description, this film is an E.

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