While She Was Out

As someone who has been an avid fan of cinema for over fifty years I have always felt my tastes in movies was what would be called eclectic. While there are certain directors and types of films that I naturally gravitate to I can pretty much find something positive about most movie I come across. The minimum that should be expected from a film is for it to make an honest effort to fulfill the goals set out by the creators and if feasible meet the required elements of the genre. What is most disappointing is when a film fails to reach its potential or doesn’t bother to even make the attempt. In the case of the film under scrutiny here, ‘While She Was Out’ I felt an honest effort was made but, unfortunately, the best of intensions were misdirected resulting in a thriller in dire search for thrills. Now, that is especially bad if the intended genre happens to be a thriller. The flick has most of the correct mandated element except for one; plausibility. For an example of this genre to work the audience has to believe in the situations and characters creating an empathic bond between the protagonist and the viewer. In this flick the plot holes are sizable and the character reactions to the circumstances appear to flagrantly defy any semblance of logic. While there are extreme situations such as proposed here that occur without regard to reason human nature typically dictates certain responses. In most cases used in this movie the depicted reactions just don’t hold together realistically even if you take into account an extreme level of tension in the characters. The film was made for the low sum of about $6 million had was primarily marketed overseas as a direct to video selection. It did have a very limited pre-Christmas theatrical released which put it in direct competition with major releases far out of its league. The DVD Blu-ray is available through Anchor Bay. It does make for a fairly entertaining pop-corn flick and is sure to eventually find its way edited for presentation on Lifetime during one of their female empowerment marathons.

The movie was written and directed by Susan Montford. This is her freshman outing in but fields although she does have a prior production credit and several projects currently in the pipeline. The main problem I had with the script is the lack of flow. The situations are episodic but just don’t transition smoothly. This makes the pacing very choppy resulting in a difficulty to maintain a sense of being in the moment. It seems that the original goal was to create a slash and dash type horror flick targeted for a more adult demographic. There is one graphically bloody scene at the start with a man shot through the head but after that it tries to alter its direction to become a psychological thriller. The gang of youths involved is just your garden variety psychopaths led by an over the top sociopath play far too broadly by Lukas Haas. Pure evil comes across much better when handled with just a touch of nuance which is completely lacking in the performances here. One thing though; his is the most racially mixed gang of thugs I have ever seen in a movie. The producers may have had some trepidation in singling out one ethic group to perpetrate such mindless violence so they came up with the evil twin of the rainbow coalition.

The main character is Della (Kim Basinger) a typical suburban wife and mother of two. Her husband Kenneth (Craig Sheffer) is emotionally and physically abusive piece of work who has to exert his control over Della by micromanaging her life. She has covert inner strength that just can’t seem to surface around him but she takes her little pleasures where she can. One example of this dynamic is when Della gets in the car to do some last minute Christmas shopping at the mall. She reaches for a hidden pack of cigarettes to find a note from Kenneth wrapped around them reminding her she was supposed to have quit. She has a defiant smile as she lights up. The jump from such a dominated woman into a vengeful killing machine is just too much of a leap. I always enjoy a story about a reasonable person reacting to the most unreasonable circumstances but there has to be proper transitions to pull the audience into the mind of the character. The resolution is too pat coming across almost as an afterthought. Talent ultimately shins through and Ms Basinger does manage to deport herself better than the flick warrants. She provides the only performance with any texture in the entire film. Most of the film is done in darkness so the 1080p resolution helps in discerning details. The audio holds together and does help in setting the tone. It is ‘watchable’ but could have been better.

Posted 11/26/09