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Double Jeopardy

1999, Movie, R, 106 mins

Double Jeopardy: Review

The glory of moviemaking the film-o-matic way is that there's nothing you can't toss into the mix. Unfortunately, the results are sometimes akin to a strawberry-okra-cilantro smoothie, witness this thriller, which buzzes together THE FUGITIVE and LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN with a dollop of NOT WITHOUT MY DAUGHTER. Poor Libby Parsons (Ashley Judd) thinks she's living a perfect life in the sunny, art-filled home she shares with husband Nick (Bruce Greenwood) and their adorable little boy Matty (Benjamin Weir). Her rude awakening occurs during a weekend cruise a deux; Nick vanishes while she's asleep, the cabin is inexplicably slick with blood and the Coast Guard arrives, searchlights shining, to see Libby holding a bloody knife she picked up off the deck. She's summarily convicted of murder (that $2 million insurance policy on Nick's life looks especially bad), and entrusts Matty and money to longtime family friend Angie (Annabeth Gish). Then Libby learns that Nick's still alive and shacked up with Angie; Hell hath no fury like a woman framed by a sleazy bastard. Libby hits the prison gym, consorts with jailhouse lawyers and sweet talks her way into early parole, all so she can hunt down Nick and recover Matty, assuming that implacable parole officer Travis Lehman (Tommy Lee Jones) doesn't catch her first. The title by the way, alludes to the legal loophole that would permit Libby to kill Nick with impunity since she's already been convicted of having done it. But it's irrelevant; Cast Ashley Judd rather than Shannon Tweed and you have a movie about a noble woman moving heaven and earth to find her son, not a vengeful virago out to repay the creep who done her wrong. Whether this riot of unrepentant trashiness strikes you as tediously ridiculous or brainlessly amusing is probably a matter of mood. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh