Director: Simon Kaijser
Starring: Guy Pearce, Pierce Brosnan, Minnie Driver
Running Time: 100 minutes
Synopsis: Dr. Evan Birch (Guy Pearce) is a Professor of Philosophy with a tendency to desire his female students. When a cheerleader goes missing in the nearby woods, Detective Malloy (Pierce Brosnan) investigates and Evan emerges as a suspect. He denies any wrong doing, but evidence linking him to the disappearance starts to emerge, straining his relationship with his wife Ellen (Minnie Driver). Meanwhile, Anna (Alexandra Shipp) is the latest student attempting to seduce Evan.
What Works Well: Philosophical musings related to memory and truth mix with a standard police investigation of a shifty suspect. Unreliability as a foundation of thought and recollection emerges as an intriguing theme, Guy Pearce embodying uncertainty as either a natural condition or defence tactic. An understated Pierce Brosnan and an increasingly irritated Minnie Driver provide able support.
What Does Not Work As Well: With a limited number of suspects and mounting evidence pointing in only one direction, director Simon Kaijser and writer Matthew Aldrich (adapting a book by George Harrar) desperately needed a good third act, but they miss by a large margin. Incoherent padding leads to a desperate final 15 minutes that unravel into a rushed and unsatisfactory mess.
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