Coastlines review by Jettie Vanderveen

Coastlines is the kind of movie you watch on a night when you don’t have time to watch a movie. You pop it in the DVD player and watch the beginning, then go make dinner, eat dinner, and clean up after dinner before finally sitting back down on the couch again to watch the ending.

It’s not a bad movie by any means, but the plot goes very slow for a long time, then it’ll try to pick up the pace from there and the story just seems choppy with a forced speed, like dragging a disobedient dog through the park.

Coastlines focuses on Sonny Mann (Timothy Olyphant), who was just released from prison after 3 years. Though the reason he was incarcerated remains unknown, the audience is keyed into the fact that it was his old partners, Fred and Eddie Vance, who are the ones to blame.

Sonny tells them he doesn’t want to get back together with the old gang and it doesn’t go over very well. After an “unfortunate circumstance” that leaves Sonny homeless, he is taken in by his good friend, Dave (Josh Brolin) who happens to be the sheriff of the town. With all the tension in the air, it’s inevitable that Sonny falls for Dave’s wife, Ann, played by the lovely Sarah Wynter.

Murder, betrayal, infidelity; all aspects of a pretty exciting film. Right? Apparently, director Victor Nunez decided this was all too good for any action movie, so he made the movie cruise along with the velocity of a gimpy aardvark.

The acting itself is okay, but nothing better than you could find on a prime-time television program or after-school special. Poorly delivered lines leave moments of suspense meaningless, and facial expressions butcher the stressful atmosphere with goofy looks and overacting.

According to www.imdb.com, “Nunez had trouble getting a distributor for the film after the 9-11-2001 tragedy, although it was fairly well received at the Verona Love Screens Film Festival” as it was nominated for Best Picture. The other entries must not have been up to par either, if this is what they chose.

Being an IFC production, I had such high hopes for it. I love the Independent Film Channel so much, I had really hoped that this film would have been up to the standards set by viewers like me. But, alas, disappointment ensued.

There were redeeming qualities to this one, but few and far between. An attractive cast of characters and good character development were among them. But mediocre acting, drab writing and over-hyped action scenes drag this film down. If it was cut shorter, just edit through all the junk .

Again, let me make it clear that Coastlines is not a bad movie. The only real thing wrong with it was the pace; it is what a director might see in his night-terrors.


4 out of 10 Jackasses
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