88 Minutes

88 Minutes
File:Eighty eight minutes ver3.jpg North American release poster
Directed by	Jon Avnet
Written by	Gary Scott Thompson
Produced by	Jon Avnet Randall Emmett Michael P. Flannigan George Furla
Starring	Al Pacino Alicia Witt Leelee Sobieski Deborah Kara Unger Amy Brenneman Neal McDonough Benjamin McKenzie
Music by	Edward Shearmur
Distributed by	TriStar Pictures (USA) Warner Bros. (UK)
Release dates	April 18, 2008
Running time	111 min
Language	English
Budget	$30,000,000
Box office	$32,281,004

88 Minutes is a 2008 American thriller film directed by Jon Avnet starring Al Pacino, Benjamin McKenzie, Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski, Deborah Kara Unger, Amy Brenneman and Neal McDonough. Filming began in the Vancouver area on October 8, 2005 and wrapped in December 2005. The film was released in various territories during 2007.

In May 2007, TriStar Pictures acquired all U.S. distribution rights of 88 Minutes; TriStar Pictures released this movie in the United States theatrically on April 18, 2008.

Synopsis

88 Minutes takes place in Seattle. Nine years after successfully assisting in the conviction of a serial rapist/murderer, whose conviction was based mainly on his testimony to look past circumstantial evidence, the forensics psychiatrist and professor Jack Gramm (Al Pacino) receives an anonymous phone call stating he has 88 minutes left to live. Looking to his few friends and analyzing what little information he is given, he has that much time to find out who his potential killer is before his time is up.

Plot

The film opens with a scene of an unknown assailant breaking into the home of two sisters. After one goes to sleep, the attacker subdues one of them using halothane and murders her after torturing her. After police questioning, the attacker, Jon Forster (Neal McDonough), is convicted by a jury after Gramm testifies against him in court. As Gramm leaves, Forster taunts him, saying "Tick tock."

Nine years later, several similar torture murders with very similar modi operandi occur. Gramm is questioned but released. On the way to his class, he receives a threatening phone call telling him that he has 88 minutes to live. He reports the threat to Shelly (Amy Brenneman), his secretary, and brushes off the threat. He receives another call while teaching, and he becomes suspicious of the students. A dean, Carol (Deborah Kara Unger), enters the classroom and warns of a bomb threat, telling everyone to leave. Gramm finds written threats in the classroom. Gramm goes to the parking lot to see that his car has been vandalized with a similar threat.

Later, one of his students, Lauren Douglas (Leelee Sobieski), is attacked by an unknown attacker. Gramm reports this to the police after questioning nearby people. Gramm later discovers through a tape that someone had accessed his secure files. With the help of his teaching assistant Kim (Alicia Witt), Gramm tries to notify authorities while trying to uncover Forster's past at the same time.

Later, Carol tells Gramm to meet her at a location, giving Gramm a similar threat. Soon after, Kim calls Gramm with a similar threat. Before leaving, he manages to convince Agent Parks (William Forsythe) to make a rendezvous with him. Gramm arrives and finds that Lydia (who is actually Lauren under a pseudonym) had set this up and was working with Forster all this time. Carol has been hung over a balcony while Kim has been tied up. Lauren threatens Gramm with a gun and forces him to "confess" that he gave false details at the trial, but Parks arrives and shoots Lauren, causing both Carol and Lauren to fall. Gramm tries to save both but Lauren comes loose and falls to her death. However, he manages to save Carol. When Forster calls, Gramm tells him that Lauren is dead and that Forster only has 12 hours to live.

Cast

• Al Pacino as Dr. Jack Gramm
• Alicia Witt as Kim Cummings
• Leelee Sobieski as Lauren Douglas/Lydia Doherty
• Amy Brenneman as Shelly Barnes
• William Forsythe as Special Agent Frank Parks
• Deborah Kara Unger as Carol Johnson
• Neal McDonough as Jon Forster
• Leah Cairns as Sara Pollard
• Stephen Moyer as Guy LaForge
• Christopher Redman as Jeremy Guber
• Brendan Fletcher as Johnny d'Franco
• Michael Eklund as J.T. Rycker
• Kristina Copeland as Dale Morris
• Tammy Hui as Janie Cates
• Victoria Tennant as Kate
• Michal Yannai as Leeza Pearson
• Benjamin McKenzie as Mike Stempt

Production

Jon Avnet replaced James Foley as director. Shero Rauf was the digital effects artist for the film.

Filming locations

The university scenes in the film were shot at the University of British Columbia (UBC) near Vancouver, which stood in for a fictional Northwest Washington University. It attracted much attention on campus (mainly due to Pacino's presence in the film) and filming was interrupted repeatedly because of it. This also could have been because many integral scenes were filmed in the busiest areas of campus during peak class hours. It was common for students to exit buildings after class only to walk into a shooting location.

Scenes were also shot on the campus of UCLA. The filming was secretive and did not draw as much attention as it did at UBC.

Critical reception

88 Minutes was heavily panned by critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 5% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 117 reviews. On Metacritic, the film has an average score of 17 out of 100, based on 27 reviews. However, on the IMDb the reception was far more generous, the current rating being 6.0/10.

Box office performance

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $6,957,216 in 2,168 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #4 at the box office and averaging $3,209 per theater. In its second weekend, the film grossed $3,593,890 and fell to #8 at the box office. The film's worldwide gross is $32,281,004 with $16,930,884 from the US and Canadian box office and $15,350,120 from the rest of the world.

External links

• Official site
• 88 Minutes at IMDb
• 88 Minutes at Rotten Tomatoes
• 88 Minutes at Metacritic
• 88 Minutes at Box Office Mojo
• 88 Minutes at AllMovie
• Trailer at Apple.com