Cast: Donald Sutherland, Amy Irving, Rider Strong, Graham Greene, Christopher McDonald
Director: Jonathan Heap
Producers: Michael Spielberg and Brad M. Gilbert
Screenplay: Jeffrey Polman and Christopher Keyser from a story by Michael Lieber
Cinematography: Johnny E. Jensen
Music: Gary Denton
U.S. Distributor: Miramax Films
The memories are no longer clear, but Karen Braswell (Amy Irving) knows it was her testimony twenty-two years ago that sent her father Frank (Donald Sutherland) to jail. Essentially, it was her word against his, and the jury believed her. For over two decades, she has never once doubted that Frank killed her mother, but, after he visits her following his release from prison, she has cause to wonder. She then confronts the District Attorney who put her on the witness stand. From him Karen learns that her testimony had been coached, and that the man she has hated since age twelve might be innocent.
Sounds like a pretty good basis for a psychological thriller, right? The premise is solid, and, given a well-written script, it could have produced a memorable film. However, somewhere just before the halfway point, Benefit of the Doubt inexplicably collapses, metamorphosing from a potentially-intriguing motion picture into a formula-riddled, ghoulish disaster. And, once this movie starts down the slippery track of cinematic ugliness, it embraces the descent. Plot twists cease to make sense, characters lose the tentative three-dimensionality they had been striving for, and the audience stops caring about what's going on.
Usually, it's up to independent movie distributors like Miramax to give us unique thrillers (such as The Crying Game). In this case, however, Miramax has reached into its grab-bag and pulled out something that belongs in a landfill. With little to claim in the way of originality (except perhaps the setup), Benefit of the Doubt is a blatant rip-off of any number of low-quality thrillers.
Who, I wonder, is the intended audience? Benefit of the Doubt involves the kind of slick, sick murder and exploitation that appeals to mass audiences, but there are too many slow-moving sequences to effectively draw from that portion of the film-going population. It appears that Miramax, normally known as a genius of marketing, has made a major blunder by backing this production.
Amy Irving, hardly looking like herself with straight blonde hair, gives a reasonably effective performance, but eventually the script and dialogue get the better of her. Similarly, Donald Sutherland starts out strong, but as the plot grows progressively more ridiculous, his acting deteriorates. Graham Greene is unimpressive in a superfluous role.
The only thing that Benefit of the Doubt is adept at is showing off the Arizona countryside. So much running back and forth goes on that it's impossible not to get an eyefull of the sand, buttes, and canyons. Unfortunately, as the movie drags on, the scenery becomes far more interesting that what passes for a storyline.
© 1993, 1996 James Berardinelli