Out Of Time

Slick but ludicrously contrived, Carl Franklin's noir-inflected thriller is an exercise in putting a poor jerk in a bad situation and tightening the screws until he sweats blood. Police Chief Matt Lee Whitlock (Denzel Washington) is a big fish in the very small pond of Banyan Key, Fla., where crime is mostly a matter of rowdy drunks and petty robbery. That said, Matt recently participated in a substantial drug bust, which is why there's nearly $500,000 in shrink-wrapped cash languishing in his evidence lock-up while the case inches its way through the justice system. If only his private life were so laid back. Unhappily separated from his ambitious wife, Alex (Eva Me...