A Reason to Believe (1995)

A popular girl on campus, Charlotte, attends a wild party while her boyfriend Wesley is out of town. When she realizes she has become too drunk, she leaves the party. But Jim, who she ... See full summary »

Director:

Douglas Tirola

Writer:

Douglas Tirola

Stars:

Jay Underwood, Allison Smith, Danny Quinn

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jay Underwood	...	Jim Curran
Allison Smith	...	Charlotte Byrne
Danny Quinn	...	Wesley
Georgia Emelin	...	Linda Perryman
Kim Walker	...	Judith
Keith Coogan	...	Potto
Christopher Birt	...	Gary
Lisa Lawrence	...	Alison
Obba Babatundé	...	Prof. Thurman
Mark Metcalf	...	Dean Kirby
Robin Riker	...	Constance
Holly Marie Combs	...	Sharon
Afton Smith	...	Becky
Joe Flanigan	...	Eric Sayles
David Overlund	...	Freddy

Storyline

A popular girl on campus, Charlotte, attends a wild party while her boyfriend Wesley is out of town. When she realizes she has become too drunk, she leaves the party. But Jim, who she danced with at the party soon joins her and she becomes forced into a sexual encounter. Feeling ashamed and self-blame, it is difficult for her to find the courage to speak out. When she does, many of her friends do not believe her. Meanwhile, Jim honestly does not think what happened that night was rape. But as members of his own fraternity and campus feminist groups begin to unpiece the grey areas, the ensuing experience challenges the trust and friendship of college students who thought they would be friends forever.

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Plot Keywords:

party | feminist | friendship | fraternity | college student | 

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Taglines:

Sometimes the people you know the best are the ones you can trust the least.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexuality and language, substance abuse and a rape

Did You Know?

Goofs

During a sex scene involving Sharon, she can be seen putting a condom on what is clearly a prop of some sort (piece of wood, possibly). This error is only visible in some prints of the film including the full-screen VHS version. Other prints crop this out.

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Alternate Versions

Different prints handle the Holly Marie Combs sex scene differently. In one version, Combs can be seen putting a condom on the character she's about to have sex with. In another version, the frame is cropped so that you cannot see what her hands are doing. (For the record, she is actually putting the condom on either a banana or a piece of wood.)

User Reviews

Sadly Candid

Unlike many viewers, I did not seek this film out simply to catch a glimpse at Holly Marie Combs' breasts.

I thought that the way the movie portrayed the feelings of loneliness, confusion, isolation, and guilt that rape victims go through was very well done. The film did a great job showing the rape from a predominantly impartial standpoint and the way that it showed both sides of the story was very impressive. The rapist was not a one-dimensional creep and the girl was not a completely innocent victim. They were both depicted as fallible and human. This was a huge relief to me. I was growing increasingly tired of seeing rape cases depicted as black and white. The movie, though fairly anonymous, did a great job at depicting the multiplicity of emotions and actions that occur doing a tragedy like that. Unfortunatlely, the movie lacks classic Hollywood exaggeration and some might find it a bit dull. In its quest for authenticity the movie comes across as a bit too slow-paced. Overall though, its very nicely done.

BTW - Holly Marie Combs did a superb job in the small part that she had. Her character served as a great foil to the protagonist. Her main monologue was simply fabulous. She did a great job. Too bad, the movie could have benefited with more screen time from her.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 October 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Reason to Believe

Filming Locations:

Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pioneer Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1