Return to Sender
While fighting for a woman who sits on death row, a lawyer happens upon new information which brings into question the motives of a man associated with her client
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- Cast:
- Connie Nielsen , Aidan Quinn , Kelly Preston , Tim Daly , Mark Ryan , Mark Holton , Sara-Marie Maltha
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Reviews
Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.
it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.
It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
I agree with most of what's been said about this film, both negative and positive. Yes, there are holes, unexplained and unsupported events and motivations and frankly, the ending sucks! I mean really, after being on death row, hours from execution, and when she's finally released nobody is there to greet her and she has to take the bus to her dilapidated house where again, nobody's there. I know the news media has a short attention span but you'd think after all the hoopla some reporter would want her story. At least her lawyer would have been there or the man who proved her innocence and who eventually does meet her at her house.But enough of that. This film is worth seeing for one reason only: Connie Nielsen. I've seen her in three others, Mission to Mars, Gladiator, and One Hour Photo, and although she's good in these, here she's captivating. Essentially she carries the whole film and certainly deserves to be the headliner. The performances of Aidan Quinn and Kelly Preston were predictable but hers was captivating. That's what makes this movie worth watching and that's good because after all it centers on her character. If it hadn't been for the plot issues I would have given it a higher rating.And I should add that it left me with a sense of satisfaction, as if I had watched something worthwhile, something that will stay with me, something that made me think. Nielsen deserves much of the credit for that.
Even though the ending was kind of deus ex machina, since anybody could have been brought forward to clear Connie Nielsen, it wasn't obvious, and there was enough tension to think that she might in fact be killed at the end. Connie did a very good job as a hardened person, and a person who had spent a great number of nights on drugs and alcohol. Aidan Quinn was good as the originally uncaring journalist who came to fall in love with her. Kelly Preston did a professional acting job, but she doesn't have any emotional depth to her. The lighting was good. The scenes were properly paced. The interaction between Connie/Aidan gave the story its emotional weight. The stupid cop wasn't necessary, and didn't provide any real relief of tension.
This was a movie that OK. The acting was OK, the story was OK, everything was OK, but not more than that. I wasn't p***** off about the time I spent watching it, but there were a lot of other ways (better ways) I could've spent that time. Bottom line, it's a good movie to see if you've got NOTHING else to do. The other thing to mention about the movie is that it had been done before. Not the exact same movie. But you can't help saying to yourself "haven't i seen this one before". It's just one of those movies that has that feeling about them. That being said, I'll go home and watch cartoons. Yeah, cartoons kick a55.
Charlotte Cory (Connie Nielsen) is on death row for the kidnapping and murder of a child - but did she do it? Aidan Quinn plays an ex-defense lawyer who makes money selling the last letters of condemned prisoners to the highest bidder (apparently, such letters fetch tens of thousands of dollars). Because Cory's case is so rare, he sees the chance to make half a million dollars on her last letter. He pretends to be a friend of her father's in order to get close to her, but he ends up becoming emotionally engaged in her situation, and falling in love with her.Return To Sender is a low-key character drama, extremely well-acted, realistic, touching and just generally well-rounded. I was absorbed by it throughout, and can't think of a single thing wrong with it. It keeps the suspense going right until the satisfying end. A great achievement by everyone involved.