Double Jeopardy (1999)

2.5 out of 4

Starring: Ashley Judd, Tommy Lee Jones, Bruce Greenwood, Annabeth Gish

Director: Bruce Beresford

Time: 105 mins

A surprise hit during the North American autumn, Double Jeopardy is slick and entertaining but unlikely to be too memorable. Directed by Australia's Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy), the title refers to a legal term where a person cannot be tried for the same crime twice. The trailer for the film conveniently explains this, as well as revealing just about the entire plot. Why modern trailers show so much of the story is up for debate, but suffice it to say it is worthy of an essay in itself.

Nick (Greenwood) and Libby Parsons (Judd) are a happily married couple, living with their young son in a beautiful waterfront home in Seattle. One weekend they go sailing together, leaving their son Matty behind with their friend Angie (Gish). Libby wakes up the next morning covered in blood, with no sign of her husband. She is taken in by the coast guard, and later charged, tried and sent to prison for her husband's murder. When a chance phone call reveals her husband is still alive, she sets into motion a plan to hunt him down when she is released.

Though the title and the trailer plays on the double jeopardy angle, the rest of the film is really about Libby's efforts to get her son back. The trail takes her from Seattle to Colorado and finally to New Orleans. In pursuit of her is her parole officer, Travis Lehman, played by Tommy Lee Jones in a virtual reprise of his Sam Gerard role from The Fugitive and US Marshals. There are a couple of action sequences, including an escape from a ferry, but other than that there is very little in the way of excitement. Even the denouement is pretty ho-hum, and entirely predictable.

Judd is a talented actress, and her winsome smile goes a long way to making us care for her character. Still, there were a couple of moments just after she learns of her husband's supposed death where her reaction isn't entirely convincing. For the rest of the film, she's strong when she needs to be, and vulnerable when she's not. Jones' performance (and character) will obviously invite comparison with Gerard, though the script tries to develop some background involving a daughter he hasn't seen for a long time. This aspect is not followed through, however, and Travis Lehman becomes pretty much just an official in pursuit of a fugitive. Even with the limitations of his character, Jones injects some much-needed humour. Greenwood, as the husband, is appropriately sleazy and vile, and the film makes sure we don't forget that during a sequence in a cemetery.

One pleasant aspect of the film is the location shooting in British Columbia (substituting for Seattle) and New Orleans. I love scenic places, and the islands, straits and inlets of the Pacific Northwest are captured beautifully by cinematographer Peter James. Later on, the colour and pulse of New Orleans come alive, though these scenes are not as engaging as those set in Seattle.

In the end, Double Jeopardy is an average thriller that's slick and never boring, propped up as it is by reliable performers Judd and Jones. It definitely won't win any awards, but then again, there are worse ways to spend 100 minutes.

(c) Joe Wong