Day Forty-Eight: Double Jeopardy

DOUBLE JEOPARDY

Starring:
-Ashley Judd
-Tommy Lee Jones
-Bruce Greenwood

Directed by: Bruce Beresford

Screenplay Credits: David Weisberg & Douglas S. Cook

MPAA Rating: R - a scene of sexuality and some violence


If your husband makes a grand romantic gesture, sacrificing his desires to make you happy for the weened, be wary. He's probably looking to frame you for his murder. This is what happens to poor Ashley Judd in this movie. She wakes up alone on the boat, covered in blood and holding a knife. Naturally, she's arrested for her husband's murder. She goes to trial and says, "You have to believe me!" for about twenty minutes.

For a while, Ashley's young son Matty and his new caretaker Angela Green are coming to visit her, but they mysteriously disappear. Ashley's tough prison friends encourage her to track them down. She learns that her friend has moved to San Francisco and she begins to suspect that her panty-waste husband Nick is still alive.

A prison pal tells her about double jeopardy, so Ashley starts working out like crazy, cause one day she's gonna hunt him down like a dog in the woods and kill his ass.

"I gotta hand it to ya honey...it's just sheer hate drivin' you on!" - Prison Bitch

Six years go by and Ashley gets paroled. She's sent to Tommy Lee Jones' halfway house and starts hunting her son. She breaks into his former school to find that cretin Angela's new address. She's caught and picked up by Tommy. Since she's violated her parole, he's carting her back to jail to serve the rest of her sentence.

"Did you have a nice day at the beach?" - Tommy Lee

Ashley manages to break away from him. She visits her mama, who hands over a huge wad of cash and lends her a truck to find Matty. Ashley learns that Angela died in an "accident" and that her slimy husband and cute kid survived. You got yours, Angela.

Meanwhile, Tommy Lee is behind our heroine every step of the way. She figures out how to track her husband via his love for Wassily Kandinksy paintings, finding a New Orleans address for Jonathan Deveraux. Tommy catches up with her, so she totals his car before eluding him again.

Ashley hops a flight to Nawlins where she discovers her husband's participation in a bachelor auction. She gets some fancy new clothes in a scene that's an obvious shout-out to Pretty Woman Julia Roberts and goes to bid on Nick/Jonathan. Obviously, she is the winning bidder, and boy is he surprised. He tries to sweet talk her, but she's not taking any of his guff. Tommy Lee gets to Nick and warns him that Ashley's coming. Nick tricks Ashley into meeting him in a cemetery. He knocks her out and stuffs her in a vault. She wakes up, shoots her way out of the coffin, and is intercepting by Tommy Lee. The good news is, Tommy believes her now and helps her get a confession out of Nick. Nick starts shooting and pegs Tommy Lee, and finally, finally, FINALLY Ashley gets to shoot the crap out of her loser husband. She gets a full pardon and, most importantly, her son back.

This is a fairly good thriller. It's certainly satisfying in that the main character is vindicated and all the bad guys are brought to the ultimate justice. There will be no slipping though the cracks thanks to shady lawyers for Angela and Nick, as both are deader than dead. I'm not a huge supporter of Ms. Judd, but I did enjoy her performance in this film. Although I must admit to frequently being distracted by her cute little pixie ears.


FINAL GRADE: B+

Off in search of Alex Trebek,

M.