{"id":1613,"date":"2008-04-22T03:51:52","date_gmt":"2008-04-22T02:51:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=1613"},"modified":"2008-04-22T03:51:52","modified_gmt":"2008-04-22T02:51:52","slug":"88-mins-really-is-that-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2008\/04\/22\/88-mins-really-is-that-bad\/","title":{"rendered":"88 Mins really is that bad"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I remember last year seeing a poster in Cannes<\/a> for 88 Mins<\/a><\/strong> – the Al Pacino <\/a>thriller that has just opened in the US to universally awful reviews<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the time I assumed it was one of the many promotional posters<\/a> that adorn the Croisette<\/a> during the festival, but it was actually one for the local cinema.<\/p>\n

I remember thinking ‘why hasn’t it opened in the US or UK’ yet? The answer would appear to be that this was some kind of crazily financed vanity project that went horribly wrong.<\/p>\n

Todd McCarthy of Variety<\/a> points to some of the film’s glaring flaws:<\/p>\n

88 Minutes can’t even live up to its title. With 19 — count ’em, 19 — producers, including director Jon Avnet, ensuring that every aspect of the film, from the script to the star’s haircut, is ludicrous in the extreme, the picture easily snatches from “Revolution” the prize as Al Pacino’s career worst.<\/p>\n

Available on DVD in some territories as early as February 2007 and rolled out theatrically in France and elsewhere beginning in May of last year, this gape-inducing fiasco is getting a token domestic release that at least saves its star the indignity of a dump straight to homevid.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The presence of 19 producers is just one of the telling signs something was wrong in Pacinoville<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As the dodgy opening credits begin you know things are only going to get worse. And they do – with a vengeance.<\/p>\n

The lowlights include:<\/p>\n