Out of Time (2003)

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

Director:

Carl Franklin

Writer:

David Collard (as Dave Collard)

Stars:

Denzel Washington, Sanaa Lathan, Eva Mendes

5 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 the small town of Banyan Key, Florida, is separated from his wife, Alex, a police homicide detective in MIami. Matt's been having an affair with Ann Merai Harrison, a woman who's separated from her abusive husband, Chris, and says she has cancer, as well. When her doctor tells her of a new expensive treatment, Matt decides to give her the nearly half a million dollars in an evidence lock up that he seized from a local drug bust. When Ann and her husband turn up dead only days after naming Chief Whitlock as beneficiary on a million dollar Life insurance policy, things start heating up for Whitlock as the evidence his wife Alex is gathering stacks up against him. And as if things couldn't get worse, the D.E.A. now want the drug money a.s.a.p. Anxiety runs high for Whitlock as he scrambles to figure out who has set him up and also recover half a million dollars all while trying not to break a sweat or draw any suspicions. He's a man who is way out of ...

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Plot Keywords:

cell phone | wife murders husband | woman murders a man | shooting a woman | deception | 

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Taglines:

How do you solve a murder when all the evidence points to you.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, violence and some language.

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 USA:

$16,185,316, 5 October 2003

Gross USA:

$41,088,845

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$55,495,563

Company Credits

Production Co:

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

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min 114 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Carl Franklin put all the clocks forward by one hour on set, giving the actors the illusion that they were constantly out of time.

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Goofs

When Matt arrives with his car at the hotel where Cabot is staying the camera is reflected in the shiny bumper.

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Quotes

Chae: [handing over the autopsy results] Hey - got a surprise for ya: Both of 'em were already dead when somebody turned them into smores.
Matt Lee Whitlock: What?
Alex Diaz Whitlock: Both of 'em?
Chae: No sign of smoke in their lungs. If they'd been alive when the place went up, their lungs would look like mine.

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Crazy Credits

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

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Connections

Referenced in Saturday Night Live: Jack Black/John Mayer (2003)

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Soundtracks

Let Love
(2001)
Written by Santigold (as Santi White) and 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

Worth your time

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

Matt Whitlock (Denzel Washington) is the immoral police chief of a small coastal town in Florida.He is having a sleazy affair with Ann Marai Harrison (Sanaa Lathan),a dental nurse and the wife of fellow police officer and rival Chris (Dean Cain),who mistreats her mentally and physically.One day,posing as her brother,he and Ann Marai pay a visit to the doctors to pick up some blood test results.It is here they are dealt the shocking blow that Ann Marai has an incurable form of cancer and has roughly only six months to live.Ann Marai wakes up to the hopelessness of her situation,but Whitlock clings on to hope in the shape of some treatment in a foreign country.It's going to cost a fair bit though,and money doesn't seem to be readily available.Desperate for cash,Whitlock steals a small fortune seized from a drug bust and puts it forward.Then,the next morning everything goes pear shaped when both Ann Marai and Chris are killed in an apparent arson attack.Aside from losing the woman he loved,Whitlock must now also contend with the mounting evidence putting him in the frame,especially when a nearby elderly neighbour (Evelyn Brooks) points him out as a suspect and a homicide squad,headed by his wife Alex (Eva Mendes) find evidence that suggests he was the new benificerary of Ann Marai's will.

This is the second pairing of Washington and director Carl Franklin since the film noir Devil in a Blue Dress,nine years ago in 1995.The films are very similar in substance and style,and are conveyed in a very similar way.Washington,though not turning in the best performance of his career,carries the film fairly engagingly,and is given good support in the shape of Lathan,Cain and Mendes.Though the performances are perfectly on par,a lot of the film's shortcomings are attributable to director Franklin,who allows the pace to become rather laxed and to lose it's sense of narrative structure in parts.Like many thrillers nowadays,he also allows credibility to be stretched fairly far in certain parts,requiring a rather huge and unreasonable suspension of disbelief from the audience.

He does also,however,really require you to use your brain and pay attention at all times to everything that is being said and inferred,no matter how preposterous it may sometimes be.The film emerges as being as good as you could hope it would be,serving it's purpose as a watchable but ultimately generic Hollywood cookie cutter thriller.***