Changing Lanes 2002

     Gavin Banek is in a rush to get to court on time.  Doyle Gipson is also in a rush and he’s also going to court.  Gavin is filing legal papers involving a multi-million dollar trust.  They have an accident with their cars, Doyle wants to exchange information and handle the accident properly.  Gavin is in too much of a rush and he wants to give Doyle a blank check to cover the damages to his car.  Gavin accidentally drops a folder with an important document for his case and he has until the end of the day to present these papers to the court.  Gavin and Doyle begin to go back and forth over both of them botching their court appearances because of the accident.  For Gavin, it’s his career as a lawyer.  For Doyle, it’s losing custody or sharing custody of his boys with his wife and trying to get their marriage back together.

     There is a LOT of tension in this film.  I didn’t know what was going to happen to Gavin and also what would happen to Doyle?  How far would the film escalate with the two men continually pressuring each other?  There is a lot going on in the background that unfolds in layers.  3 ½* (I liked this movie) 

    

98 min, Drama directed by Roger Michell with Ben Affleck, Samuel L. Jackson, Kim Staunton, Toni Collette, Sydney Pollack, Tina Sloan, Richard Jenkins, Akil Walker, Cole Hawkins, Ileen Getz, Jennifer Dundas.

Note:  Imdb 6.5 out of 10, 77% critic 53% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 4*, Amazon 4.4* out of 5 stars with 229 reviews, Metacritic 69 out of 100 with 36 critics 8.8 out of 10 with 168 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in New Jersey and New York City, New York.  The World Trade Center towers were digitally removed from the opening main sequence.  During re-editing they were reinserted as a tribute.  Ben Affleck started to wear a wetsuit under his suits in the final scene.  He was too cold for hours in wet clothes during filming.  Samuel L. Jackson often wears the color purple on screen.  In the film Unbreakable of 2000, he wears purple clothing.  Star Wars: Episode II of 2002, he has a purple light saber.  In this film, he wears a purple hat.  F.D.R. highway was shut down to regular traffic for two days for the accident scenes.  Roger Mitchell also directed Persuasion and Notting Hill.