"The crime is clear. The truth is not."

The Life of David Gale (2004): 5/10

Poster (c) Universal Studios

For those who call Fahrenheit 9/11 senseless propaganda, I suggest they see The Life of David Gale. This movie, both subtley and unsubtlely, deals with the death penalty and liberal views on the subject. I really have no stance on the death penalty, so that doesn't really affect my rating of the movie. But I'm sure many, critics and moviegoers alike, were either overjoyed or deterred when finding out the political themes in this movie. However, I mainly overlooked them and tried to enjoy the movie for its superficial qualities-but I have to say, there weren't that many.

David Gale (Kevin Spacey) is a prominent philosophy professor who is also an anti-death penalty advocate. He's accused of raping a former student (of which he's not guilty), and then accused of raping and murdering his colleague and fellow advocate Constance (Laura Linney). But did he? He sends for reporter Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet) to come and interview him so that he may show that he's innocent. The movie then shows his life in flashback.

The main problem I could find with this film is the director, Alan Parker, who I last saw mutilate Fame. He's obviously getting old and wants to stay hip with all the new advancements in moviemaking, so he throws in some empty style. There are some very quick shots of pieces of paper that have various words on them for no reason-they (as in the papers) are not even mentioned in the film at all. He cannot pace the film at all-it all begins way too slowly. It's not exciting at all throughout the first 80 minutes or so. All that happens is some boring scenes with Parker's wanna-be cool directing and some painfully unfunny one-liners that are spit out by Bitsey and her intern Zack (Gabriel Mann), followed by some pithy sayings by Gale. It's not until it's too late that the movie turns around into some exciting scenes, with actual plot developments coming along. But it's too late.

The screenplay by Charles Randolph (whose name is the name of the motel that is featured...clever, eh?) is ok. It has its moments, but too often seems to be going for the "quote that will live on for centuries". There are too many that are thrown out there. One great compliment I have for this film is that it kept mystery in throughout the movie-I certainly didn't see the end coming. But when you have Kevin Spacey sleepwalking through his role, Kate Winslet trying to build herself back up to the Titanic height of stardom she had, and Laura Linney acting surprisingly well, it's not enough to save this film's flawed first half.

Rated R for violent images, nudity, language and sexuality.

Review Date: July 14, 2004