Movie Review: 88 Minutes - Santa Clara Weekly

The story in 88 Minutes takes place in Seattle, WA. The locations seen on screen are all in Vancouver and Toronto.

Surprised? I wasn’t. I had made an important appointment for right after the film. I was 20 minutes late. I believed the film to be 88 minutes long. It runs 108 minutes. Why didn’t they just call it 108 minutes? The reason it is called 88 Minutes is because that’s all actor Al Pacino, playing forensic psychiatrist Jack Gramm, is given to live by an anonymous caller 20 minutes into the film. Seems JG was involved in convicting an evil serial killer of murder and getting him sent off to death row.

This is all portrayed as happening with events beginning 9/1/1997. Now, 9 years or so later he has 88 minutes to figure out what’s going on, who is trying to kill him and does this script make any sense at all?

All the other characters like secretaries, barflies, students, doormen and cops look like suspects just before the master detective reveals the murderer.

Everybody looks suspicious. Everybody acts suspicious. Even Al Pacino acts and looks suspicious. The calls keep coming in and everywhere he turns is a reminder that his time is running out.

Motorcyclists try to run over him. Smoke seeps under the door of his apartment. His car is vandalized. All the pages of the script seem to be out of order. Very, very suspicious. The story becomes more and more convoluted. AP seems more and more confused as every person in the story may be out to get him. At least they act that way. The pace moves reasonably well and the suspense builds and builds.

Unfortunately the story continues to become more and more unlikely and impossible to follow. AP decides to wipe out the heads of the five families then realizes that was in a different movie. Eventually all the mystery clears up and one of the people who acted suspicious turn out to live up to all the suspicion. When I leave the theater at the 108 minute mark I suspect I am late for the appointment. I am right. Just like I am when I tell you to wait for the DVD. You probably already suspected you would.

Rated 2.1 out of 4 too many red herrings