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THIS WEEK AT THE MOVIES

 

Civic Duty

Cast:
Peter Krause, Kari Matchett, Richard Schiff

Civic Duty

Sometimes a film is so representative of the time when it was made that it seems obsolete almost from the moment it's released. That is the case for this thing. It's sooooooooo 2002.

It's that year. Terry Allen (Peter Krause) has just been fired from his accounting job, and when he arrives home, he notices that some Middle Eastern types are moving in to the apartment down the courtyard, and with terrorism all over the news, he's suspicious. His New-agey wife Marla (Kari Matchett) thinks that the new neighbors are totally benign, but with more time on his hands than he should, he does some investigating on his own and contacts the FBI, who send Agent Hillary(Richard Schiff) to interview him.

With little response from the feds, Terry continues his investigation, and things get more and more suspicious. But everyone else thinks it's just paranoia and Terry's personal life falls apart. We're not sure whether or not Gabe Hassan (Kaled Abol Naga), the neighbor is actually a terrorist or completely innocent or not.

This is essentially a one-man film. Sure there are other performances here, and for the most part they're all good [Naga, when he finally starts talking, is great], but Krause and his character are the entire movie. Watching him fall apart is fascinating and the ending has a particularly nice, if expected, twist.

Andrew Joiner's screenplay is surprisingly effective little thriller for someone who's previous work has been doing set design for Disney family movies. Perhaps the career change will do some good.

 

Eric Lurio