Before & After 1996

      This movie is based on a book written by Rosellen Brown.  When teenage son Jacob is being accused of murdering his girlfriend, the well-respected and close-knit Ryan family is in turmoil.  Jacob runs away and father Ben destroys possible evidence.  The village community turns hostile and mother Carolyn is forced to temporarily close her doctor's practice.  Jacob is arrested and soon finds himself and his family entangled in a web of truth, trust and lies all on his way to court.

     The acting in this film is good with the exception of the young actor who plays Jacob because he is too wooden.  The film also packs a lot of intrigue.  It weaves in a lot of family dynamics and conflict that makes it a gripping drama.  But, the lawyer and police are stereotypes.  They are awful and one-dimensional.  The people in the town were also one-dimensional.  With the exception of one clerk at a hardware store, everyone turns against the family based on allegations of wrongdoing?  3* (This movie is OK)

108 min, Crime directed by Barbet Schroeder and written by Rosellen Brown and Ted Tally with Meryl Streep, Liam Neeson, Edward Furlong, Julia Weldon, Alfred molina, Daniel von Bargen, John Heard, Ann Magnuson, Alison Folland, Kaiulani Lee, Larry Pine, Ellen Lancaster, Wesley Addy, Oliver Graney, Bernadette Quigley.  

Note:  Imdb 6.1* out of 10* with 8232 reviews, Roger Ebert 2*, Letterboxd 2.8* out of 5*, Rotten Tomatoes 32% with 19 critic reviews 35% with 5,000+ audience scores, Amazon 4.2* out of 5* with 960 reviews.

Special Note:  There is a scene where Meryl Streep enters the court room to appear in front of the grand jury.  In the front row (in the middle of the frame) sits a young Paul Giamatti as an extra.  His head is turned around to have a look at her.  The Ryans were originally going to be a wealthy Jewish-American family.  The hatred toward them after their son may have committed a murder was going to be related to Anti-Semitism.  The studio decided they didn't want to deal with those issues.  They also didn't think that it made sense to have Liam Neeson playing a Jewish character.  Instead the family was made into a generic group of Caucasians.  

Mistakes:  After Jake and his girlfriend pull over, their car gets stuck in the snow.  They are unable to drive away but it is unexplained how Jake is able to drive out of the rut alone after his girlfriend's fall?  If the two could not do the job while working together how could Jake do it alone?  During the initial lawyer conference the sandwich, the napkin, and the sandwich wrapper in front of the lawyer change relative position?  The wrapper changes shape several times without the lawyer touching it and you can’t hear the sound of the wrapper being moved/reshaped.  When Ben and Jacob pull to the side of the road and get out of the car to talk, the right blinker is on. When they get back in, the blinker is off.