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Benjamin
Bratt as a cop, what a stretch for the former Law & Order star. Let’s see,
he has also been a law enforcement officer in Miss
Congeniality and The
River Wild. I guess the twist in his role this time is that he is a
recovering alcoholic. In
Abandon Bratt plays Detective Wade Handler, a cop just back on the force after
receiving treatment for his alcoholism. For his first case Lt. Bill Stayton
(Fred Ward, Enough) assigns Wade to a missing persons
case at the local college. We soon learn that the trustee of rich kid Embry
Langan’s trust fund is starting the process to declare the kid dead so that
the law firm can divest itself of the responsibility of running the trust fund.
Apparently Embry went missing about two years prior and no one has seen or heard
from him since, and there has been no transactions on his accounts since then.
Detective Wade starts his investigation at the local college that Embry attended
where he discovers that Embry had a girlfriend who is still attending school
there. This former girlfriend is Catherine Burke (Katie Holmes, Wonder
Boys), a soon to be graduating senior that is near the top of her class. She
tells Wade that Embry probably just ran off somewhere and is just in seclusion,
since that is how eccentric and self-absorbed Embry was. Wade isn’t so sure he
isn’t dead and keeps prying for information about Embry, and about Catherine.
Meanwhile, Catherine starts to see Embry around campus, or is she just imagining
it since no one else sees him? Throw in her desperate struggle to complete her
thesis while trying to get a top job with a topflight consulting firm, and we
are talking about some serious stress. This stress also causes her sleeping
problems and flashbacks to her relationship with Embry and to the time her
father left her and her mother. Intertwined with these stories are the
relationships with her friends Samantha (Zooey Deschanel, The
New Guy), Amanda (Gabrielle Union, Two
Can Play That Game), August (Will McCormack), and Harrison (Gabriel Mann, The
Bourne Identity) who wants to be Catherine’s new boyfriend. None of these
people think Catherine is all right, so the question becomes, how messed up is
she, and if you pay attention you will know before director Stephen Gaghan tells
you. Besides
directing Abandon, Gaghan also wrote the screenplay. Also in the film are
Melanie Lynskey (Sweet Home Alabama), Joseph
Scarimbolo, Giancarlo Caltabiano, Philip Le Maistre, Greg Kramer, and a few
others. Generally
speaking Abandon keeps you entertained, but you can figure out the true story
fairly early on. Holmes looks sexy throughout, and does well in her role. Bratt
does well as a cop, but that should be expected (note to Bratt, you might want
to play other characters before you get pigeonholed). The cinematography is
good, and the feel to the film is dark, just like it should be. Director Gaghan
also does well by adding some depth to the characters. Though predictability is
the only problem, it is a rather serious issue when it comes to suspense films,
so I can only give Abandon seven couches.
Last updated: Thursday, March 20, 2008 02:48:03 AM Click Here to get back into frames.
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