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Movies / On DVD / 88 Minutes
88 Minutes

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88 Minutes (2008)

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Reviews Counted:120

Fresh:6

Rotten:114

Average Rating:2.6/10

Consensus: 88 Minutes is a shockingly inept psychological thriller that expertly squanders the talent at hand.

Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for disturbing violent content, brief nudity and language.

Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

Theatrical Release:03-10-2008

Synopsis: In 88 MINUTES, Dr. Jack Gramm (Al Pacino), a Seattle-based college professor and forensic psychiatrist, is informed by an enigmatic caller that he has exactly that amount of time to live. The... In 88 MINUTES, Dr. Jack Gramm (Al Pacino), a Seattle-based college professor and forensic psychiatrist, is informed by an enigmatic caller that he has exactly that amount of time to live. The threat is linked to Gramm's role in putting a convicted serial killer (Neal McDonough) behind bars nearly a decade earlier, and sends the scholar/consultant on a desperate run to avert his imminent demise. Entering into Gramm's dangerous orbit are his dutiful assistant (Amy Brenneman), an FBI agent (William Forsythe), and his admiring young students (most notably Alicia Witt), all of whom add layers to the tense mystery. Shelved for years, 88 MINUTES was finally released in U.S. theaters during 2008, marking director Jon Avnet's first feature-film project since 1997's RED CORNER. (Avnet was brought in as a replacement for original helmer James Foley.) Pacino clearly knows his way around a thriller (see HEAT and INSOMNIA), and approaches his beleaguered character with typical gusto, while his costars, particularly Forsythe and Witt, also offer up energetic turns. Though the high-concept plot is secondary to Pacino's agitated performance, even those who drift from the storyline will appreciate the Hollywood veteran's over-the-top acting, especially if they are diehard fans of the iconic actor. [More]

Starring: Al Pacino, Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski, Amy Brenneman

Starring: Al Pacino, Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski, Amy Brenneman, Deborah Unger, Neal McDonough, William Forsythe, Melinda Clarke

Director: Jon Avnet

Director: Jon Avnet
Screenwriter: Gary Scott Thompson
Producer: Randall Emmett, Gary Scott Thompson, Jon Avnet
Composer: Edward Shearmur
Studio: Sony Pictures Entertainment

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Reviews for 88 Minutes

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> >|
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THE WORST FILM OF THE YEAR.

Full Review Source: Sun Online | comment Comment
10/03/08
Sun Online

Pacino looks half asleep throughout, no doubt concentrating solely on his cheque, while the script is a catalogue of clichés and contrivances.

Full Review Source: Daily Mirror [UK] | comment Comment
10/03/08
David Edwards
David Edwards
Daily Mirror [UK]

Now that this stupendously inept serial-killer flick has slithered into theaters, the diminutive legend had better clear room in his closet for another cinematic skeleton.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
10/03/08
David Fear
David Fear
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It verges on so-bad-it’s-good territory, but just isn’t entertaining enough. Lacking in tension and pace, poorly edited and starring wholly unsympathetic characters, this is just dull, drab and boring.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
10/03/08
Helen OHara
Helen OHara
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Ridiculous and ultimately disappointing thriller that stays just about watchable thanks to an amusing pair of performances by Shouty Al and his hairpiece.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
10/03/08
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

Full of dreadful turns and awful dialogue (“There’s been a breach in my most secure area!” mutters Al at one point), 88 Minutes is 107 too long.

Full Review Source: Total Film | comment Comment
10/03/08
Neil Smith
Neil Smith
Total Film

The overwrought production, sieve-like plot and ludicrous characters merge into something genuinely hilarious. But that's clearly not what cast and crew were going for.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
10/03/08
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

Good Sunday afternoon entertainment but it won’t hang around the multiplex for long.

Full Review Source: Heart 106.2 | comment Comment
10/03/08
Simon Thompson
Simon Thompson
Heart 106.2

There are more thrilling ways to spend 88 minutes, like counting from one to 5,208.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
10/03/08
Stella Papamichael
Stella Papamichael
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's called Eighty Eight minutes. But, in fact, it's one hundred and seven minutes of your life that you lose should you persevere with this witless thriller.

Full Review Source: Sky Movies | comment Comment
10/03/08
Tim Evans
Tim Evans
Sky Movies

The kindest thing one can say is that director Jon Avnet and screenwriter Gary Scott Thompson bought a flatpack version of a thriller and then couldn't follow the instructions. Manuals can be confusing.

Full Review Source: Teletext | comment Comment
10/02/08
Victor Olliver
Victor Olliver
Teletext

Interestingly, the more overblown and insincere a performance Pacino delivers in a film, the more self-important and bouffant his hair gets. Here, it’s so towering it takes up 90 per cent of the screen.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
10/03/08
Wendy Ide
Wendy Ide
Times [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Given that 88 Minutes actually runs 108 minutes, it's tempting to make the joke that the movie is 20 minutes too long. In actuality, it's 108 minutes too long.

Full Review Source: MSNBC | comment Comment
05/01/08
Alonso Duralde
Alonso Duralde
MSNBC

What a bore. I guessed the identity of the killer from the character's second appearance, and I'm not that smart.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
04/18/08
Amy Biancolli
Amy Biancolli
Houston Chronicle

brightened only by its fleeting moments of unintentional humor

Full Review Source: Killer Movie Reviews | comment Comment
04/16/08
Andrea Chase
Andrea Chase
Killer Movie Reviews

Is it as bad as everyone says? Why, yes! It is!

Full Review Source: Los Angeles CityBeat | comment Comment
04/24/08
Andy Klein
Andy Klein
Los Angeles CityBeat

Nothing would give me keener pleasure than to reveal the identity of the killer, but a day after seeing the film I have genuinely forgotten.

Full Review Source: New Yorker | comment Comment
04/21/08
Anthony Lane
Anthony Lane
New Yorker

88 Minutes plays like a script Tom Cruise rejected back in the ’90s, forcing Pacino to run -- across campus, across town, through parking garages, up and down stairs.

Full Review Source: New York Press | comment Comment
04/16/08
Armond White
Armond White
New York Press

The film is a disaster in every way possible. I have rarely seen a big budget, star studded, major studio motion picture flop this hard.

Full Review Source: Sin Magazine | comment Comment
06/08/08
Austin Kennedy
Austin Kennedy
Sin Magazine

The film had no opening credits, except for the title 88 Minutes. Maybe that's because no one wanted to take credit for this mess.

Full Review Source: KPBS.org | comment Comment
04/18/08
Beth Accomando
Beth Accomando
KPBS.org
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> >|
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Latest News for 88 Minutes

January 21, 2009: Razzies Name 2008's Worst Movie Nominees
No awards season would be complete without the Golden Raspberry Awards (AKA The Razzies), awarded each year to the very worst movies to hit Hollywood. This year's winners will... More...

October 03, 2008: UK Critics Consensus: How To Lose Friends & Alienate People Does Just That; Whilst Brideshead Revisited Is Resisted
In the UK cinemas this week we have two literary adaptations with Simon Pegg as an irksome hack in How To Lose Friends & Alienate People, and Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited... More...

September 09, 2008: While 88 Minutes is no 3:10 To Yuma, this beat-the-clock escape artist fare that's light on logic and heavy on the shoe leather, sustains sufficient breathlessly nerve-jangling lockdown for the duration, despite a couple of weirdly situated plot holes. Opens in new window
More...

April 22, 2008: Pacino, De Niro Take Lumps for Recent Choices Opens in new window
Robert De Niro and Al Pacino might be among the greatest living American actors -- but have they forgotten why they started acting in the first place? More...

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