Derailed -- 2005 -- R

Ever since Friends, Jennifer Aniston either has poor taste in movies or just gets stuck with some bizarre clunkers. Derailed is no exception to this. It is a thriller, but involves a lot of stupidity on the part of the characters in order to make it go, and an engine fueled by stupidity is likely to drive off a cliff at some point. On the bright side, it shows the dark consequences of betrayal and adultery.

We start with a guy who has a wife and diabetic child. This family has struggled with this child's illness for years and has saved up for the best or worst case scenarios for years so when the call comes in, they'll have the money to pay for it. One day, the man misses his normal train and ends up on a later one, but without enough nmoney to pay for the ticket. A woman on the train offers to pay for him creating an instant friendship between them.

Naturally, the woman's beauty gets the better of the man's sexuality, and so he wants to meet her after work, etc., until they find their way to a little motel where they decide to have their sexual encounter. It is here that the other fun begins. They do not set the deadbolt on the door so some guy breaks in, beats the man, rapes the woman, and then opts to blackmail the man out of all his money. Whoops.

Fear of being caught is what fuels this whole film. The man is afraid that hias wife will find out what almost happened, and so he continues to pay out whatever the man wants. I don't know about you, but to me, the well being of my daughter would take precedence over my pride over stupidity. Now, the movie attempts to cover the contingency of him just being honest, but since the guy never really goes there with his wife, it never pays off.

It is hard to feel sympathy for someone who chooses a bad situation willingly and then ends up in a worse one. Part of me just feels like they had it coming, and then everyone is made to suffer for their decisions. This is thge hero of the story, though; the character we are intended to follow and pray he survives the ordeal. Like so many of the movies of this variety, you feel more sympathy for the family, who are the real victims here, and hope the guy can at least make things right for them.

I also feel like this probably biases me againt this movie from the get go as I actually hated The English Patient for this reason. I just can't cheer for something that was blatantly wrong to begin with. Call me moral or something here, but how can you get behind that?

Anyway, you do get a good understanding of the family dynamic and the seriousness of the daughter's condition, so you know how dire a need she has and how important it is to keep ahold of that money. There was a deleted scene that I thought helped to solidify the urgency of the final act where the guy has given away everything and they learn what they need is available...but now he can't pay for it. This would lead back into what was not cut where the guy promises to get it all back. Without this cut scene, the final act lacks the urgency it was supposed to have.

I will say from a basic story perspective, it was constructed well enough, though the guy did have a few easy out avenues he never explored. As I said, it's hard to get behind these adultery stories, but if you enjoy these types of thrillers, it's not too disappointing as the twist is fairly satisfying.