| Changing Lanes | | Cast : | Ben Affleck, Samuel L. Jackson | | Director : | Roger Michell | | Studio : | Paramount Home Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | April 12, 2002 | | DVD Released Date : | December 29, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 09, 2005 | | Summary | Two angry men | Content
 | A story about two angry men whose lives collide, forcing them to re-evaluate their behavior. A penetrating look at dishonest lawyers and the corrupt under-belly of law firms. One refreshing note is that the white man is not portrayed as a racist villain, nor is the black man portrayed as an innocent saint. Hopefully, this is an indication that Hollywood is getting over its annoying and repetitive habit of villainizing the white man.
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| Rating | | | Date | June 27, 2005 | | Summary | Would like to see alternate endings | Content
| I enjoyed the movie, but feel the ending was probably done so that Hollywood and most movie goers would leave with a good feeling; but I think that shows little respect for the audience. Either of two endings --- Jackson shoots Affleck or Jackson hangs himself would have been devastating -- but also propel this good movie and good actors into the Oscar world. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 21, 2005 | | Summary | An excellent movie with an excellent plot | Content
| This movie has got to be one of my favorite movies by far because it's different. It's unique, it's just different from other movies and should be put in a different gnere for that reason even though it's a drama movie. Ben Affleck plays an attorney while Samuel L. Jackson (one of the best actors!!!) plays a car salesman. When there is a car accident between the two, the attorney leaves the scene because he has to be in court. But the car salesman also needed to be in court so that he can get joint custody of his children. But, his car doesn't work now, and he loses custody of his children. In the meantime, the attorney is missing important paperwork which he accidentally left at the accident and the salesman now posseses and refuses to give back. The two then engage in a "war". But, the protagonist clearly is the salesman as you feel terribly for him after what the attorney does to him. The movie is sad and tragic with an amazing performance by Jackson and I shall always remember it for it's unique plot and amazing delivery. Highly reccomended. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 12, 2005 | | Summary | Pay if forward...IN REVERSE!!! | Content
| You know, the ol line pay it forward, where if you do a good deed for three people then they pay it forward etc...Well in this case a lawyer cuts a man off and causes him to wreck his car on the median of FDR drive. The lawyer (played by Ben Affleck) tries to write the man a check on the spot, because both men are trying to get to important meetings. The man in the wrecked car (Samuel L. Jackson) has the famous quote..."Can you buy me back my time?"...
A pleasingly taut, surprisingly trenchant morality play disguised as an urban thriller, this sleeper hit stays smartly focused on the emotional reality of its premise without devolving into the violent, chaotic genre clichés typically found in lesser films dealing with themes of rage and revenge.
Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson star, respectively, as Gavin Banek and Doyle Gibson, two New York men whose lives become accidentally intertwined in a Good Friday fender bender on the FDR Drive. Late for a crucial appointment, hotshot lawyer Gavin tosses Doyle a blank check and leaves the scene, while Doyle, whose car is inoperable, is late for a court-appointed custody hearing. A recovering alcoholic, Doyle's tardiness doesn't sit well with the judge, and his situation worsens when it becomes evident that a file containing crucial information about his purchase of a home for his family has ended up in Gavin's possession, while Doyle has an equally important file belonging to Gavin. The judge grants custody to Doyle's ex-wife, and so begins an escalating war of words and deeds between the two men. Soon, egged on by an associate (Toni Collette), Gavin hires a "fixer" (Dylan Baker) to destroy Doyle's credit, forcing Doyle to fire back with some cunning moves of his own. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 07, 2005 | | Summary | Much more to it than there first appears to be | Content
| Changing Lanes pulls a fast one on you. No, I'm not talking about a shocking plot twist. What I mean is that it lets you think that it's a tale of the vengeance that two men inflict on one another after a traffic accident causes more trouble than they could have imagined, but really it's much more than that. It's about self-preservation, and how much a man is willing to do to protect himself, even if it means hurting someone else.
The two men are Gavin Baneck (Ben Affleck) and Doyle Gipson (Samuel L. Jackson). Gavin, a Wall Street lawyer, is on his way to a court hearing to prove that he acted on behalf of a client and not out of self-interest, which would put him in jail - and he's got the paperwork to prove it. Doyle is also on his way to a hearing to prove that he should retain joint custody of his two young children, because he's a recovering alcoholic and is about to buy a home for all of them to live in.
When they get into the accident, Gavin leaves Doyle stranded, saying, "Better luck next time," but he also leaves behind a file that is crucial to his hearing. By the time Doyle makes it to his appointment, it's already over and sole custody has been rewarded to his ex-wife. Gavin, not wanting to be the one who screws over himself and his partners, does everything in his power to get back that file from Doyle, which includes bankrupting him. He doesn't want to hurt him, but if he doesn't get that file to the courthouse by the end of the day, he's probably going to jail for a long time. However, Doyle, acting irrationally because he's scared of losing his kids, is unwilling to cooperate, and things quickly escalate, leaving both men wounded and questioning themselves.
What makes this film work so well is that while the premise may not be probable, it is entirely plausible. We get the feeling that these are real people, at first struggling to save their own hides, but then later struggling to figure out what went so wrong in the first place, and how to go back and fix it.
I found myself wondering what I would do if put in the same situation, and I really hope that I would be a saint about it, but the truth is that I really don't know. In movies, everybody likes to see good guys defeating bad guys, but the real world doesn't work like that; it's just a bunch of flawed humans trying to figure out the point of it all and trying to become the good guy. Changing Lanes knows this, and that's why it gets my approval. |
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