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Every time Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You, Babe” startled a sleeping Bill Murray out of bed in Groundhog Day, the audience howled with laugher, sympathizing with the plight of a man forced to relive day after day after day. Unfortunately for the producers of the new political thriller Vantage Point, each rewind of the clock provokes the same reaction, but this time with the audience playing the helpless victims forced to relive the same moment after moment after moment.

 

The movie had an intriguing concept of a presidential assassination on foreign soil told from the perspectives of various witnesses, including the president (William Hurt) himself. A stellar cast was assembled to carry it, including Dennis Quaid (channeling Clint Eastwood from In the Line of Fire), Sigourney Weaver (channeling a no-nonsense network news producer) and Forest Whitaker (channeling, what else, a very nervous Forest Whitaker).

 

But, like the president’s speech, something went wrong along the way. Test screenings should have helped the director discover that the audience would laugh at all the wrong times and that the bond between the POTUS (as the secret service referred to him as) and Quaid seems a little too sentimental (think Guarding Tess). They might have also been able to stave off some lingering questions such as if the threat level was high enough to use a body double for the president’s speech, why wouldn’t you at least offer Mr. Sitting Duck some body armor? Also, how do criminals, who repay good service with a bullet in the head, keep recruiting other criminals? Finally, what young girl dodges cars to look for her mother in the middle of a busy street? Did she think she’d fallen down a manhole?

 

Thankfully for those of us sick of message movies, whether intentionally or unintentionally, there’s no clear political sermon. One of the president’s cabinet members is chomping at the bit to launch a full-scale attack but you can’t really tell if that’s a message or just one-dimensional writing. Also, the president seems to be a peace activist but a lot of bad guys (and good guys) meet their grisly doom along the way, as the movies takes full advantage of its PG-13 rating, along with salty language.

 

If you like good action movies and the nail-biting tension of 24, wait until January for the next season of 24. But if you’re going out to the movies and don’t want to get roped into seeing Fool’s Gold, Vantage Point, even with its quirks, will provide a few good thrills. Did you get that?

 

Rewind, repeat: If you like good action movies and the nail-biting tension of 24, wait until January for the next season of 24. But if you’re going out to the movies and don’t want to get roped into seeing Fool’s Gold, Vantage Point, even with its quirks, will provide a few good thrills.