Before and After

The plot of Before And After is a good idea, but is ruined by the trite treatment given here. Liam Neeson (Ben) and Meryl Streep (Carolyn) turn in surprisingly weak acting jobs here. It gets boring real fast. Personally, I was annoyed by the obvious attempts to manipulate viewers into sympathizing with the Ryan family, for instance when Martha (Jacob's girlfriend) was portrayed as selfish and promiscuous, and when Martha's mother was shown as ugly, bitter and snipy in contrast with saintly Carolyn. The postcard device was also confusing and contrived, and the lawyer was too much of a stereotyped caricature. The only character I cared about was Judith (Jacob's sister), as an innocent victim of the rest of the family's panicked stupidity. Too much oversimplified moralizing, not enough character development. A timewaster.

This is an all too common problem: someone somewhere convinces bona fide movie stars, in this case Meryl Streep and Liam Neeson, no less, to appear in a feature film that, without movie star names attached, would have ended up as made for TV. This is a weak script with bad, predictable dialogue - very disappointing with such a cast. With some reworking, it might have been a very powerful family story, perhaps never as compelling as Ordinary People, for instance, but better than it was.

BEFORE AND AFTER

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Sound format: Dolby Digital

A middle-class New England family is forced to confront a range of difficult issues when the eldest child (Edward Furlong) is accused of murdering his girlfriend (Alison Folland).

Barbet Schroeder's earnest drama looks and feels like a big-screen TV movie, toplined by A-list stars and filmed with professional elegance on wintry New England locations. Schroeder struggles to avoid melodrama and mawkishness, resulting in a lack of tension, as parents Meryl Streep and Liam Neeson become torn between protecting their son and telling the truth about his possible involvement in Folland's death. Frustrated lawyer Alfred Molina makes the point that 'truth' has little or no bearing on the criminal justice system, where defence and prosecution teams become engaged in brinkmanship designed to sway the jury one way or another. Ted Tally's screenplay makes a number of similar points, but the narrative begins to drift around the halfway mark and never really recovers. Some will be won over by the cast and production values, others won't be so forgiving.

The locations are pleasing to the eye, and Meryl Streep is effortlessly convincing as the mother. But Liam Neeson's performance doesn't ring true for a moment, Edward Furlong appears to be less shocked by the gruesome events than simply stoned, and the outcome of the plot is awkward and unconvincing. "Before and After" is basically a small-scale family melodrama that belongs on the TV screen; without these high-profile actors, I wonder if it would ever have gotten theatrical distribution. (**1/2)

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I had put off watching it for a long time because I thought it would fall on standard clichés in the telling of its murder mystery. But there's a lot to like here. For starters, the performances by the lead actors are first rate. Streep and Neeson come across as real people tackling a real problem. I should also add that Alfred Molina also gives a solid performance as the defense attorney. (Though the fact he looks like idiot movie critic Michael Medved gave me a few chuckles at times.)

The script gives most of its characters a fair shake. The parents are sympathetic at times, but sometimes they make decisions we disapprove of. The townspeople and police are not one-note characters, showing off more than one side.

The movie unfolds at a pace that keeps us interested and informed. It's directed with an appropriate bleak look that suits the subject matter.

There is one flaw with the movie, however. I thought that Edward Furlong's character was repulsive, stupid, and hateful. I don't blame Furlong for this, but his direction and his parts of the screenplay. I think a better way the movie could have gone would be to give him a mixed view, neither overly sympathetic or hateful. This would make the viewer think long and hard about him, and wonder if his fate at the end of the movie is correct or not.