THE NEXT THREE DAYS

Russell Crowe tries his darndest to add believability to The Next Three Days, a curious drama that suddenly veers a bit incredulously into an action flick.

When we meet the family in the center of The Next Three Days, you know their idyllic life is going to go all to hell. Any cutesy perfect married couple that takes a photo snapshot of themselves with their young tot every morning before starting their day is just asking for trouble in the world of movies. It doesn't take long... police burst into the couple's home, grab the wife (Elisabeth Banks) and arrest her for murder. D'oh!

Russell Crowe plays the husband, who is a frumpy college-professor type, and is so sensitive and such a good suddenly-single father that it looks like his eyes are going to well up with tears at any moment (and they pretty much do). Russell (let's just forget character names, why don't we?) is convince that his wife Elizabeth (and her name was...?) is innocent. Why? BECAUSE HE LOVES HER. After she is convicted and sent to prison, and he has tried every possible appeal, he is pretty much told that she is out of options. She's in the slammer for the rest of her life. BECAUSE HE LOVES HER, this is not acceptable. So the frumpy professor starts to plan a break-out.

Now, the curious thing about The Next Three Days is that it is very well acted, especially by Crowe. The idea of an every-day schlub trying to break out a prisoner from the outside is kind of fascinating. He Googles a lot. He pins maps and articles and photos to his dining room wall (does anyone stop by for a visit??). He interviews famous felons who successfully broke out of prison (played in a kind of odd cameo by Liam Neeson struggling through a Boston accent). He even takes touristy helicopter tours to scope out the prison from above.

The best moments show regular-guy Russell trying out his rudimentary ideas and theories and kind of screwing up. But when he starts acting like MacGyver suddenly, getting in really dangerous situations with dangerous people (didn't moments ago he ask a gun shop clerk how to put bullets in his gun?) things quickly become incredulous.

There's a point in the film where Russell shares a quiet, almost wordless moment with his father, played by Brian Dennehy. Both men know that it may be the last time they see each other though Russell has not told his father a thing about his plan. There is SO MUCH heartbreaking wordless emotion in the moment that my eyes welled up... and when that happened, the first thing I thought was, "Man! If only the rest of this film were as good as that scene!"