Great Film overall

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

The story of what happens one day in New York when a young lawyer and a businessman share a small automobile accident on F.D.R. Drive and their mutual road rage escalates into a feud. Changing Lanes is an Under-appreciated film that truly worked for me because it's based upon one day in the life of 2 men Ben Affleck (Gavin) and Samuel L. Jackson (Doyle) both actors did a really good job but Jackson is the one who shines the most cause is a man who just wants to see his kids since him and his wife broke up and she's moving out alongside with the boys now Affleck on the other hand who is a lawyer they ask him to do something which he thinks is wrong and he is kind of a jackass at times and both men act like children one tries to sabotage the car of the other and in the process the other one goes to the school of his children and says to the school principal that he is "dangerous". But by the end Affleck fixed the mistake and happily ever after. honestly i think this was a nice film with good performances and a great cast although the part of Amanda Peet could easily cut out of the movie 8/10

This DVD was gifted to me by a friend a couple of years ago. It is a keeper. I do not watch it obsessively but pulled it out for a second watch after watching Woman in Gold.Changing Lanes may be fiction but it is honest to the corruption that is in our 'legal profession'. I say this as someone who has been battling partisan lawyers since 2002.Changing Lanes accurately portrays how lawyers have fallen out of their role of protecting the truth and justice, into making the money all that counts.The movie is fast paced, full of twists and turns and moral themes that are challenging. A rich lawyer dealing with an accidental encounter with a down and out man who is trying to return to having personal dignity becomes a good story about how the rich lawyer learns a lesson in what justice really is.This movie may be fiction but it is more honest to what 'the system' has created. I am hopeful that a movie like this might move citizens away from what the writers suggest in the clip provided with additional features. We need to move away from 'acting better when in vehicle accidents' to really challenging the corruption that starts with our legal professionals inside our nations.I remain skeptical about society's possibilities in rising up from the couch after watching this movie, that ends up with a good message for 'our highest'. Oh, Google my name below to understand why I like this fictional portrayal of the realities that apply to 'lawyers', all but know that the motives of 'getting rich', as portrayed in the Woman In Gold, have overwhelmed our social responsibilities.Changing Lanes, being made when 9/11 happened, becomes a better portrayal of what our personal responsibilities should be... rich lawyer or not... A movie that will remain in my collection for this reason alone, even if I never watch it again.Don MacAlpine, Wolseley, Saskatchewan, Canada

I first saw this on a bus in Mexico and it left an impression on me. I later forgot about it and just recently saw it on Netflix and rewatched it. I really enjoyed this movie for a couple reasons. I like the element of two people making really stupid decisions and letting their emotions control them and showing how that kind of thing can lead to things getting way out of hand really fast. In one day, two men effectively destroy each others lives because of an initial bad encounter that neither men are willing to move on from. I love the scene later with William Hurt as he shouts at Jackson's character telling him he's addicted to chaos. He should be given credit for the fact that after a cool down period he was about to give the file back, but had he been willing to fix things earlier, the whole mess could have been avoided. As I see it, both men are to blame in the end. That is why I love the ending of this movie. Both characters repent of their mistakes, are willing to accept the consequences, and things for the most part end up fixed and each side is better off.

Changing Lanes is fundamentally about two men who do bad things but are trying to do better. The main difference is that one is endorsed by society -- Ben Affleck's wall street banker -- and one isn't -- Samuel L. Jackson's alcoholic deadbeat dad. This difference in their social stations drives them into a conflict that causes both of them to revert to their worst impulses.As much as it offers ordinary revenge thrills, Changing Lanes is notable for recognizing the complexity and inequality of our social structure, which dominates even the most powerful of the characters in the film. Even the most obvious villains have reasons for their actions, and one can see how they're pushed into playing out their social roles. At the same time, it's not entirely deterministic -- there are right things to do, but they're difficult, usually involving hurting someone or giving up on some principle or another.Affleck acquits himself relatively well, although he's still Ben Affleck. Jackson is predictably great, as this is back when he still sometimes cared, and Amanda Peet is fantastic in a brief but memorable role as Affleck's amoral wife. Of course, the film is more than a bit melodramatic, with things escalating to a ridiculous extent over the course of one day, and the attempt at reforming Affleck's character towards the end feels a bit forced. It's still a mainstream Hollywood drama, and never really deviates from that style. But it's better than most such dramas, and is in the end a nice film that's been already forgotten as part of the ebb and flow of popular cinema. That forgetting is kind of justified -- it certainly won't go on anyone's best-ever list, resting as it does in the realm of the merely above-average -- but it's still worth a couple hours of your time.