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Having missed Changing Lanes when it opened, I was pleasantly surprised by much of the film when I screened it on DVD over the weekend. Samuel L. Jackson, as always is excellent. One of the surprises, however, is Ben Affleck, who really is great as the scuzzy yuppie lawyer who refuses to stop after a nasty accident with Jackson. Affleck often looks superficial because he’s stuck in crap like Pearl Harbor. Given his chance, as he was here and in the underrated and underseen Bounce, I think he can work very well. I loved the camera work in this film; it’s oppressively claustrophobic, making for a grim and ugly take on urban life. Will Affleck remain a claw-your-way-to-the-top nasty, or will he gain a heart? Will Jackson lose his chance at regaining the trust of his family, or will he go back to hitting the bottle? The movie adopts an uncharacteristically dark tone for a studio film, so much so that I really didn’t know where it was all going to end. Without ruining anything, things get tied up a bit too
tidily by final credit roll. But I still really enjoyed watching this
odd little battle of wills. There are also some extremely worthwhile
supporting performances, notably from William Hurt and Sydney Pollack.
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