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.
88 Minutes (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:7
Fresh:0
Rotten:7
Average Rating:2/10
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
Reviews for 88 Minutes
There are more thrilling ways to spend 88 minutes, like counting from one to 5,208.
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.
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.
Although it’s often laugh-out-loud laughably bad, 88 Minutes is mostly just a slog.
Pacino and company mark time in this preposterous copycat killer thriller.
The picture easily snatches from Revolution the prize as Al Pacino's career worst.
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. ![]()
More...
April 22, 2008:
Pacino, De Niro Take Lumps for Recent Choices ![]()
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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