On B List of Movie Reviews

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Before and After (1996)

Rate: 5
Viewed: 9/25

BeforeAfter
9/25: Before and After was holding steady until the WTF moment in the last half-hour that completely derailed the film.

At the beginning and the end, the narrator girl talked about the before and after, but to me, it felt like 1% of the former and 99% of the latter. In other words, I didn't see significant changes. If the filmmakers could spend more time on the family and how things were for them before Martha Taverner's death, it would bring depth to the drama.

Another issue is the vacuum-like atmosphere. It's not believable. A small town like that will be rocked to its core. As a result, the family should be harassed constantly everywhere on a daily basis. Instead, everything is too quiet. Sure, there's an incident here and there, but that's not enough.

As for the cast, the high quality of material was holding the film together for a good while. Then, Meryl Streep's character started to sabotage her family for murky reasons, causing her husband to be crazy over it. That's the point when I felt Ted Tally became too clever for his own good. Afterwards, I looked up his résumé and realized that he wasn't a competent screenwriter.

Now, we come to Edward Furlong. I hate him. He's an awful actor. This time, I'm pretty sure he was high on drugs because of his glassy eyes. When Edward Furlong's character explained what really happened, I didn't believe him, but the longer the time went on, the more likely he was telling the truth. But I still say he's on drugs.

Some have blamed Meryl Streep for her poor acting. I can see how that might be, but what's odd is she has played this sort of character many times over when it concerns a child like Kramer vs. Kramer, A Cry in the Dark, and The River Wild. It's probable that she got tired of the conventional way and wanted to go in a different direction.

Liam Neeson occasionally overreacts (the weird outrage when he came out of the grand jury room comes to my mind) and therefore gets no sympathy from me. As the father, he views the whole thing as a game, and every obstacle is a test, hence his retelling of the Abraham-Isaac story. All he had to do was defer to the lawyer, who's well-played by Alfred Molina in a too-brief role, and things would ultimately work out.

All in all, Before and After does look the part for an engrossing crime drama picture but gets trashed at the end.