Out of Time (I) (2003)

A Florida police chief must solve a vicious double homicide before he himself falls under suspicion.

Director:

Carl Franklin

Writer:

David Collard

Stars:

Denzel Washington, Eva Mendes, Sanaa Lathan

4 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Denzel Washington	...	Matt Lee Whitlock
Eva Mendes	...	Alex Diaz Whitlock
Sanaa Lathan	...	Ann Merai Harrison
Dean Cain	...	Chris Harrison
John Billingsley	...	Chae
Robert Baker	...	Tony Dalton
Alex Carter	...	Cabot
Antoni Corone	...	Deputy Baste
Terry Loughlin	...	Agent Stark
Nora Dunn	...	Dr. Donovan
James Murtaugh	...	Dr. Frieland
Peggy Sheffield	...	Judy Anderson
Evelyn Brooks	...	Judy's Mom
Eric Hissom	...	Hotel Clerk
Tom Hillmann	...	Living Gift Salesman (as Tom Hilmann)

Storyline

Matt Whitlock, the police chief of Banyan Key a small town near Florida, is separated from his wife, Alex, a police detective based in Florida. Matt's been having an affair with Ann Merai Harrison, a woman who's separated from her husband Chris and who says that she has cancer. When her doctor tells her of a new treatment that's expensive, Matt gives her the nearly half a million dollars that he seized from some drug dealers. When she turns up dead evidence points to Whitlock. He tries to figure out what's going on but apparently it appears he's been set up. So he has to try and find the money especially now that the Feds are asking for it before the evidence exposes him.

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Plot Keywords:

florida | small town | cancer | arson | terminal cancer | 

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Taglines:

The Clock Is Ticking...

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 October 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Tiempo límite

Filming Locations:

Boca Grande, Florida, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$397,228 (Italy) (18 June 2004)

Gross:

$397,228 (Italy) (18 June 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Original Film, Monarch Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min 114 min

Sound Mix:

DTS (as dts) Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The hotel clerk's name is Neal Moritz. Neal H. Moritz is the name of one of the film's producers.

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Goofs

Upon arriving in Cabot's hotel room the dialog from Legally Blonde can clearly be heard. After fighting with Cabot, dangling over the side of the balcony, and struggling back into the room (all of which took several minutes) the dialog has clearly only progressed for a few seconds, not minutes.

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Quotes

Chae: [pointing on a stash of drug money in the open safe] Is that it?
Matt Lee Whitlock: That's it.
Chae: Huh, man - 485 grand... can I touch it?
Matt Lee Whitlock: No, you can't.
Chae: I just want to touch it.
Matt Lee Whitlock: Get your hands outta there.
Chae: Maybe I'll just steal it.
Matt Lee Whitlock: Maybe I'll just shoot you, Chae...
Chae: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Stop thinking like a cop for five seconds, alright?

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Crazy Credits

The name Burt Ward appears as "Boy Wonder Executive Producer"

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Connections

Featured in Ebert Presents: At the Movies: Episode #2.21 (2011)

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Soundtracks

"Let Love"
(2001)
Written by Santigold (as Santi White) and Martin 'Doc' McKinney
Performed by Shareese Renée Ballard (as Res)
Published by She Writes Her Own Music and Myana Music
Courtesy of MCA Records
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

Enjoyable enough little film but nothing special

Matt Lee Whitlock is the chief of police in a town in Florida. He has an ex-wife on the job and a girlfriend dieing of cancer. When Ann tells him that her husband has changed the details of her life insurance policy, Matt agrees to be named the new beneficiary in order to keep any payout safe. Meanwhile, under pressure to help her treatment, Matt takes drug money from the police safe however, when Ann and her husband are both killed in an arson attack on their home a murder investigation is launched – with Matt's ex-wife Alex heading it up. Initially quick to cover all links between him and Ann, Matt soon finds that all the clues are starting to point to him and realises that he is being framed.

Despite a solid (and sexy) cast, this looked too much like an average crime thriller to bother me to go to the cinema. However on DVD I decided to give it a go over the weekend as it seemed more suited to the small screen. Indeed the plot is no great shakes and is essentially a series of little set pieces on the way to a twist that was so apparent that the film doesn't even really deliver it with any great effort. However this is not to say it is no good, but just that it is nothing particularly special. The direction is good and it really helps the film keep a good sense of pace in the way the camera spins around in even the office environment but really it is the cast that make this stand out from the many other crime thrillers that never make it to the cinema.

Washington may well be slumming it here (he criticised it because he said all he did was run) but he holds the attention really well. His character doesn't really act like he should do and sometimes he is just plain wrong but Washington is suitably frantic and sweaty like a man hemmed in on all sides. Mendes is enjoyable even if she has no real character to speak of either, while Lathan rounds out the sex appeal with an OK performance but hardly the femme fatale that she should have been. Cain does better than he usually does and credit to him that he does manage to hold his own with Washington. Generally none of the lead three really act at the level that they can but their presence makes it more interesting.

Overall, my (and most viewers) assumptions were mostly right – it is an enjoyable little thriller but not one that is really worth hunting down. The big name cast are sexy and do reasonably well with the little they are given and director Franklin injects more pace that it probably deserved and the end result is a solid enough little film but not one that really does anything special.