"RETURN TO Paradise" begins with a sense of doom that is quickly realized. But, for me, part of the sense of doom was operating outside the movie. I feared from the opening moments that the movie would be a cliche. Given the happy-go-lucky attitude of our three American heroes, Sheriff, Lewis and Tony, vacationing and smoking hash in Malaysia, I worried that what was ahead was some kind of
"Midnight Express" rewrite.
But I didn't take into account that the screenwriters are Bruce Robinson ( "Withnail and I," "How to Get A Head in Advertising" ) and Wesley Strick ( "True Believer" ). This movie has a first-rate script, and director Joseph Ruben ( "True Believer," "The Stepfather" ) knew exactly what to do with it.
As the filmmakers understood, we did not have to see the cataclysm occur. It is enough that two years after the idyllic vacation during which the three accidentally met, Tony (David Conrad) and Sheriff (Vince Vaughan) are moving through their lives in New York City when a pushy lawyer named Beth (Anne Heche) intrudes on their peace.
She represents Lewis (Joaquin Phoenix), who was arrested for drug possession shortly after the others left. He's been in prison ever since and only now, faced with execution in a week, has he mentioned that the others were involved. The Malaysian court says that if Lewis' cohorts come forward and serve their terms (three years each if they both come and six years if only one returns), Lewis' life will be spared.
Sheriff, a misanthrope driving a limousine, is the epitome of the selfish lout and as portrayed by Vaughan ( "Swingers" ) he makes it clear to Beth that if she is looking for someone with a conscience, she is barking up the wrong tree.
Tony, an engineer with a promising career and a fiancee, is stricken with guilt and agrees to go back. But to reveal this much is only to set you up for the true and wonderfully enacted conflicts that follow as the movie progresses.
Beth is relentless in her pursuit of Tony and Sheriff. Lewis, among the three men, is the most sympathetic (he stayed behind to join a group trying to save the orangutans). As Tony and Sheriff face the decision of sacrificing years of their lives for a guy they really don't even know that well, Lewis is viewed enduring the horrors of Malaysian prison life. The juxtaposition is neither overbearing nor apologetic.
Phoenix, who was memorable in "To Die For," is unearthly here as a man reduced to a wraith by miserable prison conditions and hopelessness. As an actor, he seems to have abandoned his body entirely in order to communicate only through his spirit.
The movie hits only one wrong note. Jada Pinkett Smith plays a bullying reporter who gets wind of the story and threatens to run it with or without Beth's cooperation. Perhaps I am naive about the condition of journalists' consciences these days, but when Beth explains that publicizing Lewis' dilemma will prod Malaysia into executing him and the reporter doesn't seem to care about the consequences of writing the story, I found the reporter's response utterly unbelievable. She'd really trade a life for a good story? And did she have to be so incredibly rude?
One of the attractions of this movie is that it stands out from most movies of the decade in that it is a story that concerns itself with a crisis of conscience. The movie poses a moral dilemma for Tony and Sheriff, one that has awful consequences no matter what each man chooses to do. Most movies reward the guy who does a good thing. This one, so much more like life, shows that doing the right thing can put you in a Malaysian prison. I am in awe of a movie that tells its audience that life isn't fair.
"Return to Paradise'
* CAST Vince Vaughan, Joaquin Phoenix, Anne Heche, David Conrad, Jada Pinkett Smith
* DIRECTOR Joseph Ruben
* WRITERS Wesley Strick, Bruce Robinson
* RATED R
* EVALUATION ***1/4<