Pluskylang Great Film overall

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

alannasser Contemporary thrillers tend to get relatively poor reviews. These films are held to what I think is an unreasonably high standard. Admittedly, a genuinely good thriller is very hard to find these days. It's about the writing mainly. The story counts a lot, as does the suitability of the actors to this genre. It seems that the glorification of multimillion dollar production values, meaning mainly special effects, has become more important to the industry than good writing and characterizations. For whatever reason, movies like The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (original), Charley Varick, and The Getaway (the original) are a thing of the past. (Then again, there's the very good The Lincoln Lawyer.)Nowadays, all one can expect is the more or less artful use of derivative material. Standards, therefore, should change. Don't expect another Charley Varick. Benefit of the Doubt should satisfy those looking for a reasonably plausible story, well executed tension and of course a first rate villain. This movie delivers on all those fronts. Sure, characters sometimes behave unrealistically, but realism and plausibility are inessential to thrillers. Recall Hitchcock's accurate denigration of "the plausibles", i.e. those who undermine a thriller because of implausible elements. - Donald Sutherland gives us a masterfully characterized bad guy, yet another testimony to this fine actor's beautifully honed thespian chops. The movie did for me what an acceptable thriller should do: keep me interested and provide some genuine suspense. This film is nothing more and nothing less than a better than good enough popcorn movie.

sol1218 **SPOILERS** The film "Benefit of a Doubt" is not all that bad if you just watch it for it's unintentional comedy that by far eclipse everything else in it. We see convicted murderer Frank Braswell, Donald Sutherland, released from prison-for good behavior- after serving 22 years for murdering his wife, Patricia Tallman. As we soon learn the reason Frank was convicted in the first place was his at the time 12 year old daughter Karen's, Amy Irving, eye witness testimony.Now a free man the first thing that Frank does is shoot right down to Cottonwood Arz. where Karen and her 12 year old son Pete, Rider Strong, lives. With Karen wanting to have nothing to do with him Frank makes himself more then available to both her and Pete by hanging around the house and trying to make himself useful. This strange and threatening behavior on Frank's part has Karen go to the local Sheriff Calhoun, Graham Green, to see what he can do-which is nothing-to keep her overbearing father out of both her hair and property.A things start to settle down a bit in the Braswell house with Frank finally being accepted, because of his folksy charm, by both Karen and Pete his true and sinister motives start to come to the surface. It's when Frank finds out that Karen's live-in boyfriend Dan, Chris McDonlad, is going to propose marriage to her that Frank's dark side starts to show. And it's that dark and murderous side that takes control of Frank for the rest of the movie!The crazed and maniacal performance put on by Donald Southerland-as Frank Braswell-is so down right bizarre and stupefying that it has to be seen to be believed! With his eyeballs popping out of his skull and sneering like the cat that just ate the canary Southerland creates one of the most laughable and outrageous villains in motion picture history. Even Amy Irving as Karen, as good an actress as she is, has trouble keeping a straight face when she's confronted by her severely mentally unbalanced dad in her scenes with him in the film. You soon start to wonder just who was on the parole board that deemed Frank fit to be allowed to live in a civilized society? The Three Stooges? Since even when he was supposed to be normal, early in the movie, Frank showed obvious signs of mental instability that even a freshman collage psychology student could have easily picked up!***SPOILERS*** We as well as Karen are made to think by Frank opening up his troubled and tortured heart, as well as big mouth, that all that he was accused of and convicted for was a plot hatched by the local D.A Gideon Lee, Theodore Bikel, to frame him. This line of BS on Frank's part also for a time convinced his daughter Karen, who's testimony put him behind bars, that she-being 12 year old and very impressionable-was brainwashed by D.A Lee to finger her dad in her moms murder. Even though Frank told her that momma, being dead drunk at the time, fell down a flight of stairs and broke her neck when she missed kicking him in his vital organs and lost her balance! The truth of what Frank did as it later came out, in Karen's repressed memory, was far worse then even what she D.A Lee and Frank's good friend Sharrif Calhoun, who always maintained that Frank was innocent, could have imagined or dreamed up in their wildest and darkest fantasies!

tankrat Although I read Irving's name in the opening credit, I sat there wondering why the actress looks so familiar. Guess I am used to seeing her with red/brunette hair. Then it finally hit me. As for the acting, both Amy and Donald are such great performers. I recommend seeing this movie at least once, just like any other movie featuring Sutherland. Kiefer gets the talent from his dad without doubt. I never get tired of seeing either one of them on screen.Although Donald Sutherland is already 70 he still makes movies. I just think it shows how dedicated this man is to what he does best.I never even heard of the movie before seeing it tonight on Lifetime, but I am glad I tuned in.I never saw a lot of Amy Irving movies, except for this one, Yentl and Carrie, but after seeing her in this move and the great job she did, I might just watch more of her films.

David Vanholsbeeck I saw this film quite a while ago and really don't remember much of the story, which says quite something. I think it was about a father (Sutherland) who threatens his daughter and it was supposed to be a thriller. Sutherland has played a lot of these characters, but it's a shame he always ends up in ordinary, unremarkable films such as this one. It's not good, it's not bad, it's as mediocre as it gets. 5/10