While She Was Out (2008)

Director:

Susan Montford

Writers:

Susan Montford (screenplay) and
Edward Bryant (short story)

Release Date:

26 March 2009 (Spain)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Everyone has a breaking point. Tonight, she reaches hers

Plot:

Della Myers is an upper-class housewife that lives in a private condominium in the suburbs with her twin children and her abusive husband Kenneth...

Plot Keywords:

Mall | Twin | Gang | Housewife | Security Guard

Cast

Kim Basinger	...	Della
Lukas Haas	...	Chuckie
Craig Sheffer	...	Kenneth
Jamie Starr	...	Huey
Leonard Wu	...	Vingh
Luis Chávez	...	Tomás
Luke Gair	...	Terri
Erika-Shaye Gair	...	Tammi
Wayne Bernard	...	Angry Driver
Ari Solomon	...	Rent A Cop
Sadie Lawrence	...	Perfume Sales Lady
Alana Husband	...	Lingerie Sales Assistant
Katie Messina	...	Coffee Sales Person
Rachel Hayward	...	Lynn
Lossen Chambers	...	Pharmacy Sales Assistant

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence and language.

Runtime:

Argentina:108 min (DVD version) | Greece:88 min

Country:

Germany | Canada | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13 | UK:18 | USA:R | Germany:16 | Finland:K-15 | Australia:MA | Mexico:B15 | Singapore:M18 | Netherlands:12

Filming Locations:

Glenlyon Parkway, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Insight Film Studios

Movie Connections:

References "The Andy Griffith Show" (1960)

While I Was Watching This Lame Movie

Wow. Rarely have I felt the need to comment on movies lately, but this one especially is begging for a beatdown. Let's start at the beginning. First, writer-director Susan Montford puts Kim Basinger in the tired old victim role, complete with the requisite abusive husband and dull suburban existence. Let it be said right now that almost all content in this dull movie is completely hackneyed and trite. Montford's pathetic attempt at symbolism involving the Christmas tree with no star is laughable.

When She Goes Out for some Christmas wrapping paper one dark and ominous night, Della is furious that somebody double-parked their car on the busiest shopping night of the year. She decides to do something about it, so she leaves a nasty note on the car's windshield. The next fifteen minutes of the movie are devoted to Della walking around aimlessly in the shopping mall. When she finally gets to her car, the thugs confront her about the note, a cop is killed, and she runs, and they catch up to her, and she gets away, and they chase her some more, and on and on. Everything is completely predictable and uninvolving. The thugs are not scary or menacing at all, and they all get picked off one by one in all the usual ways.

This is one of those movies in which all the action depends on the characters being as stupid as you can imagine. Why the bad guys don't just kill her instead of waiting for her to hit them with a tire iron is beyond me. And once, just once, in a film like this, does the leader of the pack have to die last? What does it matter that they are all picked off one by one when they are all equally inept? Much of the movie simply consists of Lukas Haas running around in the woods screaming "Della!!!" And the inclusion of Joy Division on the soundtrack of this wretched film is insulting.

The part that really made me run for my computer keypad was when Della, exhausted and hurt, cries out to the heavens, "Where are you, God?" Where, indeed, was god when this movie was being made? I give it a 2 only because of competent cinematography and lighting, and it's not as bad as 'BTK Killer,' the ultimate marker for judging any terrible film. Cheers!