Changing Lanes (2002, VHS)

I ve been noticing, more and more, as the technology of special effects becomes increasingly sophisticated, that opening credits are taking on a life of their own. Very seldom are they something to fast-forward through, lest something crucial is revealed during those initial moments. Often they serve to establish setting and begin to establish the tone of the film. While this is not particularly new, the sophistication of the visuals gets better all the time. Such is the case with Changing Lanes. The opening scenes of congested freeways, hurried pedestrians, and general frantic activity are a very artsy collage. Overlaid with the now commonplace floating credits, we get a sense of everyone rushing, everyone with their own pressing destination, all others be damned.

From the opening forward, this is the prevalent theme of Changing Lanes. The movie opens with establishing shots of Doyle Gipson (Samuel L. Jackson), a man with new hope for salvaging a life destroyed by alcoholism, and Gavin Banek (Ben Affleck), a hot shot lawyer with a major deal on the table. We get a small taste of each individual story before the two meet for the first time in a freeway accident (it is unclear to me if one is more at fault than the other). Both have important, potentially life-changing appointments to keep (well, one life changing, the other more career boosting). Doyle, in the spirit of keeping his life on the straight and narrow, wants to exchange insurance information, etc. He wants to play by the book. Gavin, on the other hand, just wants to pay Doyle off and get to his court date. The two argue, and Gavin simply strands Doyle by the roadside, uttering words that will haunt him Better luck next time . Unfortunately for Gavin, he also leaves a crucial file at the scene. This file will become the object around which the movie revolves. Doyle has it. Gavin wants it.

Both meet with trouble at their respective appointments, as a direct result of their freeway encounter. Gavin faces major problems with his bosses (Sydney Pollack and Richard Jenkins) while Doyle s careful attempt to reconstruct his life comes crashing down around his ears. Instead of facing the music at work, Gavin uses a one-time flame (Toni Collette) to lead him to a man (Dylan Baker) that can effectively destroy what is left of Doyle s life in an arrogant and cruel attempt to retrieve his precious file. Gavin, of course, feels just terrible about having to do this, but he does it anyway, albeit with much angst. Doyle reacts with dismay and ultimately anger, which I saw as entirely appropriate to the royal screwing he was taking at the hands of some rich lawyer. From this point the story unfolds with each man dealing with the consequences of his actions, and reactions.

The performances in Changing Lanes are good, overall. Samuel L. Jackson in particular stands out as Doyle, who he plays with real depth. Jackson s Doyle is an admittedly flawed man who is accepting that he needs to make up for past mistakes in order to move forward. Affleck s Gavin is relatively well played. The role of pretty boy who gets what he wants because he s pretty does suffer a bit from the fact that Affleck isn t quite pretty enough. Gavin is far more flawed than Doyle has ever been, but fails to recognize this until we no longer really care. It s hard to like his character, and I think that we are supposed to feel for him at times. This doesn t work for me. It's hard to feel for a man who is deliberately blind to the slimy life he leads, then pleads innocence when his eyes are forced open by others. He s not even a pure, conscienceless weasel who we can love to hate. We just hate him.

The main flaws in this movie are the screenplay by Chap Taylor and Michael Tolkin, and the directing by Roger Michell. The stereotypical portrayal of the down and out black guy and the fat cat white lawyer doesn t sit well with me. Gavin feels angst for the truly vile acts he perpetrates in the name of greed, but those are crocodile tears. He does what he wants to get what he wants. Doyle is screwed over time and again, and everybody knows it. His anger is punished, his feelings discounted as his own fault, and he ends up even taking flak from his AA sponsor (William Hurt) for, basically, not just backing down, as if he brought these things upon himself through some inherent flaw. The movie fails to establish this flaw, showing only reactions to extreme circumstances. Doyle is accused more than once of bringing chaos down upon himself, but he certainly is pushed to the limit here, and nobody seems to want to cut him any slack for circumstance. It s not until Doyle finally gives in to Gavin that Gavin deigns to undo the damage he has caused (at virtually no cost to himself). The white knight riding in to save the poor black man is an offensive plot device, made all the more so by the respective natures of the characters involved. The basic morality play, in which the fat-cat discovers his inner goodness and saves the day, is pure crap. Gavin is a weasel, never taking any responsibility for the damage he causes until he has nothing to lose by doing so. I would like to see this movie entirely remade, with the title characters reversed. I wonder how that would have played out? Would the white pretty boy be punished for his actions? Would the black lawyer get away with being an a-hole? I don t know, but it would have made for a hell of a more interesting movie, and might even have managed to eek out some small social statement. Changing Lanes, as it stands, fails on both counts.