Al Pacino is one of the greatest film actors of the last thirty-five years. His performances as Michael Corleone in The Godfather, Frank Serpico in Serpico and Sonny in Dog Day Afternoon are just a few of Pacino’s most memorable roles in a celebrated career. With a resume like that, one would think Al Pacino would want to try to avoid any real stinkers. Granted, in the last fifteen years or so, Pacino has done some films that can’t begin to match The Godfather and many of his other films, but 88 Minutes can only be described as a dud. After watching this film, I simply can’t fathom why Pacino and director Jon Avnet (Fried Green Tomatoes) would agree to take on this project.

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Al Pacino
(C) 2007 Sony Pictures.

Pacino plays Dr. Jack Gramm, a forensic psychiatrist who teaches at a University and works for the FBI in Seattle. Nearly a decade ago, the doctor’s testimony was crucial in sending a serial rapist and murderer, John Forster (Neil McDonough) to jail. Now, after a series of what appear to be copycat murders, Gramm gets a mysterious call from a stranger who says that he has 88 minutes to live. The rest of the film plays out like a typical race-against-the clock thriller, as Gramm must figure out who’s trying to kill him before the time runs out.
As Gramm sets out to find the person threatening his life, Forster hears the news about the copycat killing and asks for a hold on his execution. Meanwhile, one of Gramm’s students, Lauren Douglas (Leelee Sobieski), is assaulted by a man in a leather coat inside a parking garage. It’s obvious that someone is out for Gramm and isn’t afraid to hurt those around him to get to him – but who is it? Jack needs to figure this out because the clock is ticking.
This premise is just so overdone. I have seen this before and done better. The cast is mediocre and the script is predictable. Even the usually reliable Pacino looks like he’s just going through the motions. He looks the part of a university professor/gruff doctor but that’s as far as the believability goes. Gramm is the only 60-plus year-old forensic expert in the world who can bed just about any of the beautiful, half-his-age students at the university where he teaches. I guess where just supposed to believe it. Then we have the list of suspects: Is it his top student (Leelee Sobieski?) His teaching assistant (Alicia Witt)? His gay secretary (Amy Brenneman?) Or perhaps the dean at the University (Deborah Kara Unger)? All the suspects are women. I couldn’t help but feel this was all a bit misogynistic when combined with the scenes of torture.
Is there anything even slightly redeemable about 88 Minutes? I really like Al Pacino’s work, so I wish there was. Unfortunately, 88 Minutes is an ill-conceived mess that probably never should have been made. Only the biggest of Pacino fans should investigate this one, otherwise go watch The Godfather, Serpico or Dog Day Afternoon again.
Sony offers 88 Minutes as a 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 encode (2.40:1). On this release the video quality is a disappointment. The colors seem washed out and dull. The overall presentation is lacking the three-dimensional quality found on first rate best Blu-ray releases.
88 Minutes has a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround track (48kHz/24-bit), in English and French. Unfortunately, it’s not much better than the video. It’s nothing special, but passable.
88 Minutes comes with a few special features. All of which are presented in 480i/MPEG-2 video only.
• Audio Commentary – Director Jon Avnet discusses the film. He also fawns over Pacino and the cast. Avnet also discusses a few editorial decisions that affected the final cut, and the alternate ending (which is included as a supplement).
• Featurettes (SD, 15 minutes) – Two badly produced featurettes are included, all culled from the same film clips and on-set cast & crew interviews. Director’s Point of View (7 minutes) profiles Avnet, though he basically recaps the plot and a few of the same bits from the commentary. The Character Within (8 minutes) highlights Pacino, who spouts what sounds like press releases about his character. Both featurettes appear rushed.