88 Minutes

NEW YORK (CNS) -- "88 Minutes" (TriStar) is a shoddy, strictly B-level thriller set in Seattle about Jack Gramm (Al Pacino), a forensic psychiatrist whose testimony leads to death sentence for serial killer Jon Forster (Neal McDonough).

In the film's opening scenes we've already witnessed one of the killer's trademark crimes. As her twin sister sleeps soundly, with eye shades on and pillows around her head, an Asian student is confronted by a brutal criminal while feeding their cat, and next thing we know she is tied upside down, while her skin is methodically pierced. (This scene and a couple of follow-ups are mercifully brief.)

But on the eve of the execution, copycat murders starting with one of Gramm's students raise doubts on the sentence, which is stayed.

Gramm is convinced the new murders are being committed by an ally of Forster's, working in tandem with the imprisoned mastermind, but the FBI honchos on the case are skeptical.

And soon, the surprisingly unflappable shrink receives a mysterious call informing him he will die in 88 minutes. As time passes, he gets periodic updates, counting down the minutes. Bothering Gramm a lot more than the threats is the fact that his taunter seems to know about an incident from his past when Gramm was inadvertently responsible for the death of his kid sister.

Absolutely everyone is a suspect, and behaves in a creepy manner, including graduate assistant Kim (Alicia Witt), students Lauren (Leelee Sobieski) and Mike (Benjamin McKenzie), college dean Carol (Deborah Kara Unger), lesbian Gal Friday Shelley (Amy Brenneman) and FBI Agent Parks (William Forsythe). Any one of them could be Gramm's nemesis.

Pacino does his best with Gary Scott Thompson's obvious and laughable script, which has more red herrings than a Scandinavian deli.

But the result -- frenetically but dully directed by Jon Avnet -- is inferior to even run-of-the-mill television police procedurals.

Despite the grisly opening scene, violence, on the whole, is relatively restrained.

Still, the film's 105 minutes -- alas, not the hoped-for 88 -- seem like a very long slog indeed.

The film contains torture and murder with blood, profanity, crude language, briefly glimpsed lesbian seduction, implied nonmarital encounter, some sexual talk, and partial nudity. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

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Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops