Double Jeopardy is a thriller film made in 1999, directed by Bruce Beresford and starring Tommy Lee Jones and Ashley Judd, about a woman who is framed for the murder of her husband.
Plot
Nick Parsons (Bruce Greenwood) and his wife Elizabeth, known as Libby, (Ashley Judd), wealthy residents of Whidbey Island, borrow a friend's yacht and set off sailing for the weekend. After becoming drunk Libby falls asleep and wakes up to find her husband missing and blood all over her hands, clothes, and the boat's floors. A Coast Guard vessel appears and Libby is spotted holding a bloody knife she found lying on the deck. She is apprehended, tried, and convicted for the murder of her husband.
Libby asks her best friend, Angela Green (Annabeth Gish), to look after her son Matty (Benjamin Weir) for the duration of her prison sentence. While talking with Matty during a phone call from prison, Libby hears him exclaim "Daddy!" right before the line goes dead. Libby realizes that Nick could still be alive and living with their son and attempts to get some investigative help. Distraught by the futility of these attempts, she is consoled by a fellow inmate who suggests that she serve her sentence and wait for parole, upon which time she could track down and kill Nick without consequences due to the legal doctrine of double jeopardy.
Libby is paroled after six years and begins searching for Nick and Matty while living in a halfway house under the supervision of Travis Lehman (Tommy Lee Jones), a parole officer. Libby violates her curfew and is caught breaking into a building to try and get Angela's records, but manages to escape from Travis and continue her search. Recognizing an art work in a newspaper photo and tracing it through a dealer's database leads her to New Orleans, where she finds Nick living under an assumed name. Libby confronts him during a party at his hotel and demands he return Matty to her in exchange for her silence about his real identity. Nick agrees to bring Matty to a meeting in a cemetery. However, Nick uses a decoy boy to distract Libby, knock her unconscious and lock her in a mausoleum. Libby wakes up and, thanks to a handgun she had managed to snatch from Lehman, manages to escape.
Meanwhile, Travis has become suspicious of Nick's death and begins to believe Libby. The two team up to try and send Nick to prison; Lehman visits Nick in his office under the pretense of asking for money to keep his identity secret, while he records a remark by Nick that he had murdered his wife, the only witness to his true past. Then Libby enters, holding Nick at gunpoint, and suggests either Nick surrendering to the authorities or getting shot by his vengeful ex-wife, who would go free for this deed because of double jeopardy. Nick responds with violence, and in the ensuing melee, Nick shoots Travis but is shot and killed by Libby. Travis promises to help Libby get fully pardoned, as he now has evidence that proves her innocence. Libby and Travis then travel to Matty's boarding school, and mother and son are reunited.
Cast
VHS and DVD release
Double Jeopardy was released on VHS and DVD by Paramount Home Video on February 22, 2000. The DVD included a behind-the-scenes featurette and its original Theatrical Trailer. It is presented in its original 2.35:1 widescreen format.
Reception
The film received generally mixed reviews. It is rated 26% on Rotten Tomatoes as its "consensus" states "A talented cast fails to save this unremarkable thriller."[1] Roger Ebert gives the film two and a half stars out of four, indicating a lukewarm reception.[2]
However, some critics reacted to this film with positive reviews, with Leonard Maltin giving the film 3 out of 4 stars and calling it "slick entertainment". Mick LaSalle from the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that the film is a "well-acted diversion, directed by Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy) with an intelligent grasp of the moment-to-moment emotion".[3] For her performance in Double Jeopardy, Ashley Judd won the 2000 Favorite Actress of Blockbuster Entertainment Award.[4]
Box office
The film was a box office success, grossing $116 million domestically and $61 million overseas.[5]
Legal inaccuracies
Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz criticized the movie for misrepresenting the legal doctrine of double jeopardy, a constitutional right in the United States granted by the Fifth Amendment.[6]. This particular legal doctrine would not apply to the events portrayed in the film, as it only prevents someone from being put under trial for the same set of facts twice. Regarding the movie, the first (fake) killing and the second (real) one would constitute two different crimes. Therefore, double jeopardy does not apply to them.
A character also makes an error concerning the method of capital punishment in Louisiana at the time.
References
External links
