11:14 (DVD)

Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.

---

"11:14" is a mildly entertaining film. It sets up a structure that is reminiscent of films such as "Go," "Mystery Train," and "Pulp Fiction." The difference here is that it´s nowhere near as fun as "Go" nor as substantial as the latter two. The structure of the film hooks you in, as does the wonderful cast that consists of Patrick Swayze, Barbara Hershey, Rachel Leigh Cook, Henry Thomas, Colin Hanks, Ben Foster, Shawn Hatosy and Hilary Swank. However, the puzzle that writer-director Greg Marcks creates lacks a compelling bigger picture that makes the film nothing more than exercise in gimmickry.

The story revolves around a series of events occurring around 11:14 p.m. in a small town called Middleton. A series of violent crimes occur in and around a 20 minute window before and after the fateful time stamp. All of the occurrences are investigated by a cop played by Clark Gregg ("State and Main"); he´s barely present in the film but acts as an anchor for most of the seemingly separate, though inevitably intertwined stories. The movie begins when a drunk driver (Thomas), who is talking to his girlfriend on the phone as he crashes into a body that has been dropped from an overpass. His drunken state quickly leads him to cover-up his "crime." What follows is a series of stories that include two bumbling clerks at a local convenience store and the subsequent events that transpire after one of them (Hatosy) decides to rob the store. There are also three teenage kids roaming around town in a blue van causing mischief with pointless pranks that end in tragedy. Lastly, there´s Cheri (Cook), who is manipulating two of her boyfriends into paying for an abortion that she doesn´t need while her father (Swayze) puts together the events that occurred during the course of the night.

The premise in itself is intriguing but there isn´t enough going on in the bigger scheme of things. Marcks peels back layer after layer only to leave us less interested in the story than we were at the beginning. The various stories are far too surface level to really care about. Rachel Leigh Cook´s Cheri is a typical small town bad girl, who wants nothing more that to get out of town with her boyfriend. The problem is that this information is revealed too late in the film (as is most of the other pertinent information). Very little time is spent in getting to know any of these people. To say the least, there´s a lot of potentially fascinating characters but the time spent with them is all too brief and too superficial to give the film any kind of weight.

One of the film´s other problems is its inability to carry its tone. Marcks displays somewhat solid directing skills in handling his actors but his handling of the film´s tone really flushes the enjoyment factor down the drain. Comedic moments feel much too drab or blasé and dramatic moments don´t sustain any kind of real tension. These scenes are revealed rather than engaging, which could have helped the film elevate itself above its own gimmickry. It´s this use of time that, at the very least, makes the film somewhat interesting to watch. It´s fun to see how certain characters´ stories overlap with other or how some of these characters are involved with other people in the film. The ultimate reveals near the film´s end aren´t remarkable but this no doubt due to the lack of depth.