Search found 1 match: Laura Linney

Searched query: laura linney

by Stewball
Mon Nov 12, 2012 10:57 am
Forum: Full Reviews
Topic: The Details
Replies: 3
Views: 1444

The Details

Tobey Maguire (miscast, got no business playing opposite anybody as hot as Elizabeth Banks, but still it sort of works) is a doctor who gets himself in what appears to be a minus five sit-com. The absurdity had me wanting to get up and leave 4 or 5 times, but just when I thought all was beyond hope, Toby uses his Prius to commit the murder of an errant raccoon, and confesses everything including complicity in a murder, to his wife. It is an absolutely outstanding scene, and lifted me up out of the muck I'd been wallowing in.

Suffice it to say that his troubles are initiated by the continuing irritant of excessive bureaucratic government regulations and social pressures (he lives in Seattle and the Prius has an Obama sticker on the bumper Image, and he's even afraid to hose a raccoon much less shoot it. Guns...ick.) After reciting the litany of his transgressions and betrayals to her in the car, he says, "OK, so far that's the good news". The last 10-15 minutes are priceless and worth the muck to get there. Elizabeth Banks is superb in that scene, and Laura Linney is great throughout as the neurotic, obnoxious next door neighbor. There is also a good scene with Ray Liotta on the bridge that sort of sets up Maguire's catharsis.

Could also be titled, "The Devil is in the Details", "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished", "The Truth Shall Set You Free--Sort Of", or "Wherefore Absolution?". The philosophical and moral issues it raises could start at least half a dozen threadson a philosophical board all by themselves. 8/10