Derailed is a 2005 British-American thriller film based on the novel of the same name by James Siegel. The film is directed by Mikael Håfström and stars Clive Owen, Jennifer Aniston, Vincent Cassel, Melissa George, Giancarlo Esposito, David Morrissey, RZA and Xzibit. This was also the first film to be released by The Weinstein Company in the United States. The film is set in Chicago.
Plot
Charles Schine (Clive Owen), is an advertising executive. His marriage is deteriorating, and his daughter suffers from diabetes, requiring expensive medication. Charles's story is being written down by an unidentified man in a prison cell.
On a commuter train, Charles encounters an alluring woman named Lucinda Harris (Jennifer Aniston). She is a married financial adviser. A mutual attraction develops, and the two begin meeting frequently. Ultimately, they decide to consummate their affair and wind up in a seedy hotel. An armed manâ€"later identified as Philippe LaRoche (Vincent Cassel)â€"bursts into the hotel room, beats Charles, and brutally rapes Lucinda. Charles and Lucinda agree not to report the crime, as they do not want their spouses to learn of the affair. Shortly after, Charles is blackmailed by LaRoche, who threatens to kill his family if he does not pay $20,000, which Charles promptly pays. A month later, the attacker calls again, this time demanding $100,000.
Charles explains his situation to Winston (RZA), an ex-con who works as a repairman in his building and whom Charles had earlier befriended. Winston offers to scare off LaRoche for ten percent of the payout. Charles agrees and embezzles the money from his company. He and Winston then travel to the meeting location specified by LaRoche, intending to get the drop on him. However, before they can act, Winston is shot and killed. LaRoche appears and takes the money, leaving Charles to dispose of the body. Afterwards, Charles is questioned by detective Franklin Church (Giancarlo Esposito) about Winston's murder. Later, Charles receives a call from LaRoche who claims that he will kill Lucinda if Charles doesn't deliver the $100,000. Charles takes the money from an account meant for his daughter's medical treatment and makes the payoff.
Some time later, Charles stops by Lucinda's company to ask to see her and is introduced to the real Lucinda Harris. The woman he met on the train is identified as Jane, a temp who had worked there briefly. Charles realizes Jane was in on the scam. He tracks her down and sees her kissing LaRoche. Determined to retrieve his stolen money, he follows Jane's moves and sees that she is seducing another unsuspecting businessman. He rents a room in the same hotel where Jane, LaRoche, and their partner Dexter (Xzibit) set him up and awaits them as they snare their new target. Jane and the businessman go inside the room, but Charles knocks LaRoche unconscious before he can enter the room. Charles breaks in and demands the return of his money. A gunfight ensues, and everyone gets shot but Charles. After the melee, Charles watches Jane die. Charles, while in his rented room is cleared by the police near the crime scene. As he leaves the hotel lobby, the continued investigation has all contents from the hotel safe laid out on the front desk. Charles casually I.D.s his briefcase, which still contains his money and quietly leaves the hotel.
Charles later is arrested for embezzling the $10,000 that he paid Winston and is sentenced to six months of community service teaching in a prison. During one of his classes, he comes across the story about him written on one of the students papers. The unknown writer instructs him to go to the laundry room. There, Charles finds LaRoche, who survived the gunfight. LaRoche threatens to continue to disrupt Charles's life, but Charles reveals that he has planned the encounter. He produces a shank (improvised knife) which Winston had given him and stabs LaRoche to death. As Charles leaves, he encounters Detective Church who indicates that he knows LaRoche killed Winston. While Church suspects Charles of killing LaRoche, he lets him return to his family where Charles reconciles with his wife and daughter.
Cast
- Clive Owen as Charles Schine
- Jennifer Aniston as Jane
- Vincent Cassel as Philippe LaRoche
- Melissa George as Deanna Schine
- Addison Timlin as Amy Schine
- RZA as Winston Boyko
- Tom Conti as Eliot Firth
- Rachael Blake as Susan Davis
- Richard Leaf as Night Clerk Ray
- Xzibit as Dexter
- Catherine McCord as Avery Price Receptionist
- Denis O'Hare as Jerry the Lawyer
- Ortis Deley as Cop
- Georgina Chapman as Candy
- Giancarlo Esposito as Detective Franklin Church
- David Morrissey as Sam Griffin
Reception
Box office
Derailed opened in 2,443 theaters for an opening weekend gross of $12,211,986. The film made a domestic gross of $36,024,076 and an international gross of $21,455,000, giving it a worldwide gross of $57,479,076.
Critical response
Derailed received mainly negative reviews and has a "rotten" score of 20% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 125 reviews with an average rating of 4.6 out of 10. The critical consensus states "With miscast stars, a ludicrous plot and an obvious twist, Derailed embodies its name all too aptly." The film also has a score of 40 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 34 critics indicating "mixed or average reviews."
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times awarded the films two and a half out of four stars and believed that Owen's and Aniston's performances were intriguing. Ebert said, "Clive Owen was my candidate for James Bond, and can play hard and heartless rotters (see Closer), but here he is quiet and sad, with a sort of passivity. He lets his face relax into acceptance of his own bad fortune. Jennifer Aniston does that interesting thing of not being a stereotyped sexpot but being irresistibly intriguing. That works with a man like Charles. Happily married, in debt, worried about his daughter and his job, he would be impervious to a sexy slut."
Soundtrack
The Soundtrack album is on Wu Music & 36 Chambers Records.
- "Johnny" - Rular Rah
- "I Love You" - Thea Van Seijen
- "Sabotage" - Maurice Featuring HottWheelz
- "Winston's Theme" (Orchestral) - Edward Shearmur
- "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" - Grayson Hill
- "Really Want None" - Free Murda
- "I'm Sorry" - Maurice
- "Charles' Theme" (Orchestral) - Edward Shearmur
- "Better Man" - Maurice
- "My Love" - Thea Van Seijen
- "Better Man" (Guitar Remix) - Maurice
- "Trouble" (Video for the song can be seen and heard playing in the background of a scene) - Pink
The track that plays during the trailer is called Offshore, by Chicane. The track at the beginning of the trailer is actually called "Breathe Me" by Sia
Remakes
The film has also been remade in two Indian languages titled Pachaikili Muthucharam (Tamil) and The Train (Hindi) and a Sinhala film adaptation titled Dakina Dakina Mal.
In 2010, the film was remade in Ghana by filmmaker Frank Rajah Arase as Temptation. It stars Majid Michel and Frank Artus.
See also
- List of films featuring diabetes
- List of American films of 2005
References
External links
- Official website
- Derailed at the Internet Movie Database
- Derailed at AllMovie
- Derailed at Rotten Tomatoes
- Derailed at Metacritic
- Derailed at Box Office Mojo