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The Life Before This

2000, Movie, R, 92 mins

The Life Before This: Review

LIFE BEFORE THIS, THE
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When a casino heist goes awry, the squabbling bandits burst into a cafe and open fire. Caught in the crossfire are several patrons, including Sheena (Catherine O'Hara), who's reluctant to rejoin the dating pool; Jake (Joe Pantoliano), who's facing disgrace at his law firm; and Jessica (Alison Pill); who's falsely accused her high school teacher of molestation. Reverting to the day before the tragedy, the script further introduces us to a mournful exterminator, a young couple, and an overweight actress. Expressing the theory that "everything is this close to being something else," the film contemplates why these victims patronized this coffee shop that day. Crosscutting from one sob story to the next, this self-conscious "if-only" drama is so preoccupied with irony and high concepts that there's little room for actual drama. Why give equal weight to a crooked attorney's moral laxity and a middle-aged woman's procrastination about dating? As it studies thumbnail sketches of the victims, the audience can consider itself among the casualties. And couldn't the writer have focused a bit more on the inner lives of the criminals as well? leave a comment --Robert Pardi
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