Time Lapse (2001) from Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy; Greg Wroblewski)
It sure didn't take long for the first Memento clones to appear in the grade-b world. Of course, forgetfulness is a literary device that goes all the way back to Homer's Odyssey, and the device in Time Lapse wasn't too much different from eating of the lotus. William McNamara, fast becoming the Michael Pare of the new millennium, plays a government agent who is tricked into drinking "oblivion", a drug that gradually causes a complete inability of the conscious mind to access memories. And it comes in a convenient tasty licorice-flavored alcoholic beverage. Just think of it as the Zambuca of Eternal Forgetfulness.
As soon as he drinks it, he walks out of the office and fails to recognize his own car. He then drives home to his wife and greets her with a resonant "Lucy, I'm home". That kinda catches her off guard, since they've been divorced for three years and she hasn't even heard from him.

NUDITY REPORT
none, although the DVD box says "brief nudity"
 So he then has to work his way through some confusing plot twists before his memory is gone altogether. I better never drink that drug, because even sober I couldn't figure out what was going on in this plot. Some double-crosses, internal corruption, government officials selling out to terrorists, and some guys who weren't really dead, and some other guys who also drank the Zambuca of Eternal Forgetfulness, and some other guys who maybe were just pretending that they drank the Zambuca, and some other guys who couldn't remember whether they drank it or not.

DVD info from Amazon.

no widescreen

no features
Needless to say, since this film isn't a great treasure like Memento, there is a magical bright blue antidote to the Zambuca of Eternal Forgetfulness, namely the Curacao of Remembering Anew, which cures instantly, and our hero and his wife (who was also administered the forgetfulness drug by Evil Roy Scheider), strive to get into the 1-step program while they blow up stuff real good. 

The entire plot centers around a "nuclear suitcase". As Will Smith said in Independence Day, I gotta get me one of those. 

The Critics Vote

  • no reviews online

The People Vote ...

  • With their votes ... IMDB summary: not enough IMDb voters for a score 
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 a C-. Confusing, barely watchable, straight-to-vid international espionage thriller.

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