Changing Lanes (2002)

The story of what happens one day in New York when a young lawyer and a businessman share a small automobile accident on F.D.R. Drive and their mutual road rage escalates into a feud.

Director:

Roger Michell

Writers:

Chap Taylor (story), Chap Taylor (screenplay),

Stars:

Ben Affleck, Samuel L. Jackson, Kim Staunton

5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ben Affleck	...	Gavin Banek
Samuel L. Jackson	...	Doyle Gipson
Kim Staunton	...	Valerie Gipson
Toni Collette	...	Michelle
Sydney Pollack	...	Stephen Delano
Tina Sloan	...	Mrs. Delano
Richard Jenkins	...	Walter Arnell
Akil Walker	...	Stephen Gipson
Cole Hawkins	...	Danny Gipson
Ileen Getz	...	Ellen
Jennifer Dundas	...	Mina Dunne (as Jennifer Dundas Lowe)
Matt Malloy	...	Ron Cabot
Amanda Peet	...	Cynthia Delano Banek
Myra Lucretia Taylor	...	Judge Frances Abarbanel
Bruce Altman	...	Terry Kaufman

Storyline

An attorney in a rush to make a court appointment to file legal papers involving a multi-million dollar trust accidentally collides with an alcoholic insurance salesman, who also is a rush for a court appointment involving the custody of his children. The attorney leaves the scene of the accident and strands the salesman, causing him to miss his custody hearing. During the process of the post-crash discussion, the attorney accidentally drops the papers he needs to present in court. The judge gives him until the end of the day to present the papers and thus begins a cat and mouse game between the proponents. A few questionable actions later on both parties' part, they finally start questioning their actions and their lives. In the end, both come to new understanding of what is important and appear to be set in new ethical and moral directions. Contains mild violence and profanity.

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Plot Keywords:

lawyer | road rage | feud | judge | missing file | 

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Taglines:

An ambitious lawyer, a desperate father, they had no reason to meet, until today,

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Details

Official Sites:

Paramount Pictures Corporation [us] UIP [de]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 April 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fuera de control

Filming Locations:

Bergen County Court House - 10 Main Street, Hackensack, New Jersey, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$45,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$890,523 (Spain) (6 December 2002)

Gross:

$1,538,066 (Australia) (13 December 2002)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Scott Rudin Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min 91 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Screenwriter Daniel Pyne contributed as an uncredited writer to this project.

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Goofs

There are several inconsistencies between shots in the condition and position of Doyle's car after the crash, including the passenger side mirror, which is broken off in the wreck and then reappears and disappears after the car hits the yellow crash barrels.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Doyle Gipson: Think I'll make this the boys' room.

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Crazy Credits

Thanks to the staff and Militia Force members and veterans at the Marcy Avenue Armory, Brooklyn, New York.

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Connections

References The Whole Nine Yards (2000)

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Soundtracks

"Ode to Joy"
(1826)
by Ludwig van Beethoven (as L. Beethoven)
Arranged by Sidney Carlin

User Reviews

Changing Lanes: A turn for Hollywood? (8 stars)

When `Changing Lanes' first opens, the viewer is presented with a montage of jagged credits, trendy jerking photography cruising NYC streets, and electronic beats that are so cool they could be used for cryogenic freezing. It quickly seems apparent that this film is simply a star-vehicle for Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson; it seems apparent that this is a cold and impersonal genre-exercise for a successful comedy director, Roger Michell (`Notting Hill'), to branch out; it seems to be all these things until the end of this sequence when the camera glances out the window of a school bus out onto the New York City skyline, and there we see it: the World Trade Center. Unlike Sam Raimi's upcoming `Spider-Man', delayed after September 11th so that the WTC could be digitally removed, this is a film unafraid to date itself, and unafraid to look at human truth.

Affleck plays the role of the oddly named Gavin Banek (did they take the name ‘Ben Affleck', throw it in a blender, and add some new letters for good measure?), a high-power lawyer on the verge of becoming one of the partners at his law firm, alongside his father-in-law. Jackson is Doyle Gibson, a reforming alcoholic father of two clawing his way out of his hole and trying to save his marriage. On a critical day in both their lives, Doyle going to court to try winning joint-custody, and Gavin on his way to seal his career-making case, the two get into a minor accident on the FDR turnpike, causing Doyle to miss his hearing and Gavin to accidentally give Doyle a signed document that is critical to his case… and it all unravels from there.

The two tumble in a daylong haze of malice and self-destruction, sabotaging each other's lives. Whenever either decides to throw in the towel and do the ‘right' thing, it is too late and the other has already escalated it to the next level. His life quickly falling down around him, Gavin begins to examine it for the first time, taking a deep look into his wife, his law firm, his boss/father-in-law, and himself… ultimately questioning his motivation for trying to retrieve the document in the first place.

This is where the film really shines: many movies ask the question ‘what makes a man?' but `Changing Lanes' does it with honestly and authenticity. The screenplay, by Chap Taylor, asks if it is success, or if its providing for one's wife and kids, or if its true goodness, avoiding superficiality and delving into the motivations for each. In one telling monologue, Gavin's father-in-law, played with perfect tone by Sydney Pollack, says, `At the end of the day, I do more good than harm. What other standard have I got?' Unfortunately, the movie does not really ask the question of what makes a woman, even though both wives show real strength. The movie does not even seem to suggest that Gavin and Doyle's struggles could even be applied to women (obviously they could, had the movie explored that).

Jackson, always an excellent actor, is great as Gibson even if he has performed better before. Surprisingly, in this film Affleck's acting actually seems to surpass Jackson's in this amazing performance that is probably the best we have seen from Affleck so far.

All of the characters in the film, including minor-roles and extras, all exhibit a very human feel, and seeing real-feeling people on the screen has always been something rare and not to be taken for granted. The viewer comes to care about everyone in the picture: Gavin, Doyle, their wives, the guy at the bank, even the stranger at the bar.

New York City itself is alive in this movie: it breathes, coughs, and gasps with Salvatore Totino's shaky, unsaturated, claustrophobic photography. Totino really looks at people and the city in the face, and does not try to make them prettier or uglier than they are. David Arnold's original electronic score is a refreshing change from the very poor attempts at orchestral music that most movies are now filled with. Arnold's score very effectively sets the mood and reinforces the tempo of the movie.

`Changing Lanes' is a success for Roger Michell that shows us that a movie can have major stars, be entertaining, glossy, substantial, and pensive all-at-once.

`Changing Lanes' is rated R for a fender-bender, destruction of office equipment, unseen infidelity, a shot of the World Trade Center, and honest depiction of the human condition.