Forfeit

D: Andrew Shea; with Billy Burke, Sherry Stringfield, John Aylward, Gregory Itzin

If nothing else, I’m glad I saw this movie, because it’s helped me to perfect my formula of crime-thriller relativity: Reservoir Dogs minus Quentin Tarantino plus a bunch of crazy plot twists equals Wild Things minus Denise Richard’s boobies plus Jesus equals Forfeit. While the formula is basically foolproof, it does end up making Forfeit sound worse than it probably is. Unlike the absolutely horrible Wild Things, Forfeit, directed by UT professor Shea, at least plays it fair. With its plot twists – some of which are pretty smart – plus its religious commentary, creative editing, and casting of Newman from Seinfeld, it’s worth more than most films in the mystery-crime genre, which are basically overlong CSI episodes.


Noon, Dobie

This article appears in March 16 • 2007.

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