Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Peter Krause | ... | Terry Allen | |
Kari Matchett | ... | Marla Allen | |
Richard Schiff | ... | FBI Agent Tom Hilary | |
Kal Naga | ... | Gabe Hassan (as Khaled Abol Naga) | |
Ian Tracey | ... | Lieutenant Randall Lloyd | |
Vanesa Tomasino | ... | Bank Teller | |
Laurie Murdoch | ... | Loan Officer | |
Michael Roberds | ... | Post Office Clerk | |
Agam Darshi | ... | Nurse | |
Mark Brandon | ... | Night Anchor Bret Anderson | |
Brenda Crichlow | ... | Day Anchor Tricia Wise (as Brenda M. Crichlow) | |
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Val Cole | ... | Morning Anchor Susan Harwood |
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Mark Docherty | ... | News Reporter Chad Winslow |
Michael St. John Smith | ... | Legal Analyst | |
P. Lynn Johnson | ... | Govenor Bradley |
Shortly after landing a job, Terry Allen is laid off, starts looking for another circa post September 11, 2001 media frenzy and paranoia with President George W. Bush stating that grief has turned to anger, anger to resolution, and that there are thousands of terrorists in over 60 countries ready to strike. With increasing reports of identity theft, the involvement of wealthy & educated foreigners in terrorist activities, Terry starts suspecting his new neighbor, a middle-easterner, who he stereotypes as 'raghead', 'camel jockey', and 'sand nigger'. His wife, Marla, does not share in his bigotry, but he believes that she has turned her attention from rock-stars to Jihadists. While looking for employment, as well as a loan to purchase a house, he also contacts the Federal Bureau of Investigation as he feels he has sufficient evidence that his new neighbor is structuring money, experimenting with chemicals, and associating with other middle-easterners for devious reasons. Written by rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)
"Civic Duty" is like "Rear Window" for the post-9/11 age. Terry Allen is a recently laid-off accountant who, thanks in large part to an ubiquitous, sensation-seeking news media, has become increasingly obsessed with the "terrorist threat" plaguing the Western world. When a young Middle Eastern man moves into an apartment across the way, Terry immediately goes into surveillance mode, spying on his every move, following him around town, breaking into his home, and even reporting him to what Terry quickly learns, much to his dismay, is a decidedly uninterested and unconcerned FBI. Soon, his life and marriage are falling apart as he plunges ever deeper into his paranoia-driven madness.
"Civic Duty" starts off as a reasonably compelling psychological thriller, but the longer the movie goes on the more far-fetched and heavy-handed it becomes. Peter Krause, who was so subtle and effective as the star of "Six Feet Under," is forced to go so over-the-top in his performance here that we begin to fear he'll burst a blood vessel long before the movie is over. The underlining doesn't stop there, however, for Jeff Renfroe"s direction is filled with any number of hokey touches, including panning wildly or having the camera do virtual somersaults anytime anything even remotely sinister or suspenseful is about to take place.
The movie first points out how the media, obsessed with profits and ratings, finds it necessary to bombard us with a steady stream of potential terror threats, both real and manufactured, on an around-the-clock basis - and then questions what kind of effect such sensory overload might have on an already unstable personality. And, beyond that, might the media and the political class it serves be turning all of us, to some degree or another, into raging paranoiacs, ready to pry into our neighbors' private business in the cause of national security? Unfortunately, this provocative theme gets buried under a truckload of paranoid-thriller clichés.
Kari Matchett, Khaled Abol Naga and Richard Schiff ("The West Wing") do well in their various roles, but the movie, well intentioned though it is, falls far short of its potential.