The Life of David Gale (Widescreen Edition) Reviews

• See the film before the reviewers barricade its effect

  
  By A328S9RN3U5M68 on 2003-07-23
  THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE is, I believe, a much better film than many fellow reviewers would indicate. Perhaps they are influenced by the reviews that came out in the media at the time of the film's theatrical release, perhaps the Editorial slam on the Product Page by Bret Fetzer taints opinion. I would urge you to see and/or buy this DVD, keep an open mind, and witness the effect on your own emotional response.

  Kevin Spacey fleshes out the title role as a believable philosophy professor who speaks against capital punishment in the state of Texas which just happens to be the place where more executions are performed than any other state. He is not without problems: alcohol, a drunken sexual relationship with a former student, and an awkward but deeply significant relationship with Constance (Laura Linney) who later when found 'murdered and raped' on videotape results in the arrest and conviction of Spacey's Gale, now facing death on death row. Laura Linney is most credible as a driven anti-death penalty activist for reasons we discover are beyond the range of civil rights reponsibilty. The third part of this triangle is the reporter brought in to investigate Gale's claim to innocence in the last four days of his wait on death row. Kate Winslet captures all the parameters of this contemporary woman with seamless detail. To tell more of the story would be injurious to the unfolding of this worthwhile drama.

  For a 2 hour plus movie THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE manages to hold our interest, encouraging us as viewers to keep our invetigatory eyes and ears open and struggle along with Winslet and her cohort to finally put together all the pieces of the puzzle. Others have complained that the clues are in every scene: isn't that true of most crime investigations? I see no fault in placing all the information in front of the audience to test the observation of the viewer as much as the skill of the screenwriter in resolving a case with the important message of this film. Alan Parker uses a lot of visual tricks in addressing the facts of the crime and even makes interesting parallels in the background music (the fairly obvious metaphor of TURANDOT arias by the presuicidal Liu appear repeatedly).

  In the end this story is on a par with DEAD MAN WALKING as far as a significant plea for anti-Capital Punishment voices. See it for yourself. The skills of actors like Kevin Spacey, Laura Linney, and Kate Winslet pledging belief in this script can't be ignored.
  
  

• K-Pax Redux: David Gale is a Mindless Hollywood Formula

  
  By A165V5JKUWJLZX on 2002-11-28
  In the tradition of such rip-offs of Dead Man Walking, like the Sharon Stone downer Last Dance or the Clint Eastwood race against the clock True Crime, Hollywood yet again rehashes the man on death row plot formula. This time washed up, just-looking-for-a-paycheck director Alan Parker-who once made decent films like Midnight Express and Angel Heart, and one great creative experience known as Pink Floyd The Wall-takes two time Oscar winner turned Hollywood sell-out-or is he just being used and thrown out by the big city-Kevin Spacey and makes about the most bland uninteresting cliché filled ruckus of a film against the death penalty, The Life of David Gale.

  David Gale (Spacey) is the head of Death Watch, an advocacy group against capital punishment. He's also a college professor who we learn has some dark tendencies, like sleeping with one of his students in a drunken stupor. After being accused of raping this damsel in distress, David basically loses his life-his wife leaves him, he loses his job at the college and as head of Death Watch, and he becomes even more of an alcoholic than he was before.

  The problem with The Life of David Gale is that his life is not all that interesting. The film is obviously trying to make him human with his sexual desires and failures. But really it just makes him seem pathetic. There's this laughable scene where Spacey is stumbling through the streets, trying to act drunk, and I just couldn't keep a straight face. What happened to the Kevin Spacey that gave such a darkly humorous performance in American Beauty, to the Spacey of the cripple Verbal Kent or the detective of the stars in L. A. Confidential?

  What we needed here was to see David in his heyday, fighting against capital punishment, displaying his passion and his reasoning, and his fall from this. The filmmakers try to achieve all this in one scene where he faces off with the Governor of Texas on TV, clearly a jab at President Bush (and rightly so), where he wins the battle with his wits, but loses the war because of his elitist need of being all high and mighty instead of trying to win the debate.

  Bitsey Bloom, Kate Winslet's overly melodramatic reporter, is just as shallow a character as David. Are we supposed to sympathize with her just because she cries numerous times? If this role isn't a staged ploy for an Oscar for Winslet, I don't know what is. To top it off, Laura Linney's disease ridden victim when David goes forth with his pity lay just brings to mind a certain image with a certain quote, "Chloe looked how Meryl Streep's skeleton would look if you made it smile and walk around the party being extra nice to everyone." (Ed Norton as narrator in Fight Club). If you watch the film in question that indemnifies 90's pop culture, you'll know what I mean.

  The biggest problem with The Life of David Gale is its obvious attempt to focus solely on the theme of being against capital punishment. The reason Dead Man Walking worked so well is because we got to know the two main characters so well, there was humanity in Penn's murderer, and this is what screamed that the state's function is not to kill people. Here, these are just caricatures and we don't really care for them.

  Aside from Dead Man Walking, another good example of a film against the death penalty that doesn't force its cause on you is Von Trier's Dancer in the Dark. It's about many things, from fantasy to sacrifice, and has a message, but in the end it doesn't force it on you, it makes you think, it raises questions.

  With The Life of David Gale, Kevin Spacey follows a dud with a dud-following up last year's K-Pax that was Hollywood alien cliché nonsense. After taking home the Best Actor Academy Award for American Beauty, Spacey's either sold out to Hollywood, or he's being used. All I can say is: Mr. Spacey, let's start being a little more selective. You can still get the big paycheck and make a good movie!
  

  After the film was over at a recent advanced screening, I said to a couple of people next to me, "That was awful." They said they liked it and especially the twist at the end, which from my perspective doesn't really add anything to the film. Well, there you go, the verdict is in from the average movie going audience. I almost feel bad because I can't say anything good about this film, except that I agree with it politically-I don't want it to seem like I'm smearing this film for the sake of smearing a Hollywood big budget film...but folks, this is K-Pax Redux. If you like the same Hollywood garbage force-fed down your throat over and over again, by all means, rush out to see this film.
  
  Alternative Recommendations: Dead Man Walking, Dancer in the Dark, The Usual Suspects, American Beauty, Fight Club, Pink Floyd The Wall, Angel Heart, Heavenly Creatures
  
  

• Manipulative, despicable

  
  By A32XW50ILWOXNO on 2003-03-03
  "The Life of David Gale" fashions a staged rape as a warm-up and an the reenactment of a brutal crime as an encore. The center ring is a real treat -- the crime itself, a woman handcuffed and stripped naked, left to suffocate with a plastic bag taped around her throat.

  What a cruel, despicable movie. It pretends to be about anti-death penalty activists and the lengths to which they will go to prove their point that the death penalty is wrong, but it is not a point that should be made by the activists, nor the movie. The death penalty is too important an issue to be tied up in such a crude, mean-spirited thriller.

  Kevin Spacey barely registers as David Gale, a former University of Texas professor and leader of Deathwatch, who is now slated to get the death penalty for the murder of Deathwatch colleague Constance Holloway (Laura Linney). Gale, a brilliant, often drunk hothead, got put on the world's disavowed list after being falsely accused of rape by a expelled grad student. The fake rape itself is a real treat, shown in all its brutal glory. Gale's wife, a philanderer herself, nonetheless takes the opportunity to stick it to him, taking Gale's son to Spain -- Gale will never see him again -- and e-mailing him to ask for a divorce. "P.S." the note says, "I'm selling the house."

  About that point I'm thinking, oh boy. But then Gale, who was a tenured professor and must have saved up some money along the way, moves into a tenement apartment building, complete with a pool filled with mud, where he spends his days calling Spain again and again and again. Uh-huh.

  How Constance dies, and why, you can discover, if you wish. There is little doubt as Gale's fate on the row, nor his role in Constance's death, if you're paying much attention. What's so offensive is that the movie makes all of this seem honorable, which it is most certainly not, and does so by playing up the miseries of Gale's life beyond any reasonable standard, and squeezing a little harder for effect.

  Spacey plays Gale like a fool. No subtlety here; it's like he means to act as he's being informed by the tag team K-Pax and Verbal on how to do it. Once the whole truth is "revealed," you understand the performance, but you don't admire it. The reverse is true for Laura Linney, who bravely plays a sad, sweet, caring, forgiving school marm who makes a decision we cannot possibly comprehend. Was she crazy? Influenced? We don't know. The movie, because it is not about her choice but about throwing smoke into the moviegoers eyes, will not discuss it.

  I have not mentioned Kate Winslet. She plays the reporter to whom Gale tells his story; she is essentially used in a sickening, cruel way. I am not sure what she is doing in this movie, a slave to the idiocy of her role, going to and fro like a plot puppet.

  I love Kate Winslet.She is a master at divining the center of a role -- much like Meryl Streep -- and seeing that core through; she creates three dimensions where there have only been one to begin with. She can play lead, she can support, she can sidekick; there are few actors better at filling in the blanks.

  But she is powerless here. Absolutely powerless. In terms of intelligence and ferocity, she is Spacey's equal, and yet she is under a virtual spell in his presence. Why?

  My guess is Winslet followed the lead of the director, Alan Parker, and Spacey, for she thought she was in league with kings. And, at times, both Parker and Spacey have done great work. But both are given to shameless grandstanding and intellectual subversion, and it serves them both very poorly here.

  I'm sure they're proud of the statement they have made, and the brutality with which they made it, but "The Life of David Gale" couldn't have been any worse if George W. Bush himself sat onscreen and preached for two hours.
  
  

• unintended consequences

  
  By A19ZXK9HHVRV1X on 2003-02-25
  "The Life of David Gale" is an equal opportunity offender in that it makes both those who support and those who oppose the death penalty look equally venal, conniving and foolish. I don't think that was the INTENTION of writer Charles Randolph and director Alan Parker - since the theme of the film is based on the premise that an innocent man can indeed be falsely executed - but that is the unfortunate impression we are left with once the bizarre plot twists and convolutions have played themselves out.

  It is four days before David Gale (Kevin Spacey), an ex-college professor convicted of raping and killing a female colleague (Laura Linney), is scheduled for execution. The twist is that Gale used to be one of the most vocal opponents against capital punishment in all of Texas, and now he is on Death Row. Catch the irony? Gale has decided to open up to a single reporter, "Bitsey" Bloom (Kate Winslet), in an attempt to have her go out and prove his innocence, if not for his own sake, at least for the sake of his young son. The film becomes a typical race-against-time melodrama with Bitsey and her cohort, intern reporter Zack (Gabriel Mann), piecing together the clues as to what actually happened on that fateful day years earlier, in an effort to stave off the inevitable while the clock ticks down and the wheels of Texas justice grind inexorably on.

  "The Life of David Gale" is a reasonably entertaining thriller provided you don't apply too much common sense or logic to the matters at hand. In fact, the film's admittedly absurd plot contrivances do manage to keep us guessing most of the way through. Spacey, Winslet and Linney give it their all, even if that means occasionally going over the top to match the overheated nature of the material they have to work with. My biggest complaint with the film is that the overly clever denouement, though it serves its purpose as an acceptable "shocker," really undercuts the entire film we have just sat through since it turns Gale into a complete and utter liar in terms of everything he has said up to that point. What purpose is served by having him pour out this tale of innocence to Bitsey if he knows she is going to find out the truth later on anyway? It's really a case of a convicted man inflicting cruel and unusual punishment on an innocent party who just wants to help him. (Protecting the son's memory of him seems a tenuous reason at best). Besides, the duplicity underlying the abolitionists' actions would more likely turn the general public AGAINST their cause than win it many new converts. Even though the filmmakers' sympathies obviously lie with those upholding the anti-capital punishment position, the "sincere" protestors depicted in the film don't always seem like the sharpest tools in the shed.

  "The Life of David Gale" has its moments as social drama fantasy, but for a real, serious study of the death penalty issue, check out the great "Dead Man Walking" instead.
  
  

• An Excellent Thriller

  
  By ATS7LYGLUX34L on 2003-02-26
  What's your stance on capital punishment? Whatever it is, The Life of David Gale probably won't change it; It is, however, enjoyable for what it is, which is basically a whodunit.

  Kevin Spacey plays David Gale, a death-row convict with 4 days to go until his execution. He agrees to spend two hours a day speaking with Reporter Bitsy Bloom (Kate Winslet), and as he tells her his story, we learn the reason he's about to be executed. Gale, formerly a high-profile opponent of the death-penalty, has been convicted of the rape and murder of his Death Watch partner Constance (Laura Linney). Bitsy believes Gale is innocent, and sets out to find the evidence that will overturn his conviction.

  The film is told mainly in flashback, and the many twists and turns the plot takes will have you rehashing those scenes in your mind for days trying to uncover clues, much like another Spacey film, The Usual Suspects. I can see the "Twist Ending" of a film coming a mile off, and after I solved the mystery here, the filmmakers threw in one more twist that I didn't see coming at all. The ending revelation is pretty far-fetched, but it's a neat twist nonetheless. The film goes a little overboard with it's anti-death-penalty politics at times, but never to the point of annoyance. The Life of David Gale is worth a look for all the armchair detectives out there.
  
  

• Horrifying,Wretched, and Ludicrous!
  By A1W4NECCQ2YAJ7 on 2005-10-11
  Let me tell you, nothing makes me happier than when I see a movie purporting to present the arguement, by at least some of it's cast, that all life is sacred and redeemable, deliver a "point-by-point" instructional on "how-to" suffocate and rape a bound woman.... ENSURING she will have no hope of escape. Yep, nothing could be more humane. Not even abolishing the death penalty, which, if that was a goal of the screenwriter (first and god-I-hope-last time penner Charles Rudolph) or the normally reliable director Alan Parker, it should ask those gentlemen to kindly horse-whip themselves. The level of ludicrous, empty violence against WOMEN in this film is SICKENING. David Gale, who is supposed to be this harmless, likeable, Casper Milquetoast college professor becomes disturbingly drunk at a student/faculty party and has gross skirt-yanked-up,woman presses-against-the front-of-a-sink (hey, why not just have her on her knees in front of a toilet?), man panting wordlessly... (cause ya know that's how all us COLLEGE GALS luv it)... exposed-breasts-jiggling (I could practically see that obnoxious, misguided limey old fart Pakula drooling while he filmed it...sorry, I'm MAD!) bathroom sex with a MUCH younger woman who earlier told him she would "do anything for a good grade". Not only does Gale lead her on when she propositions him then with a lascivious, leering "rejection" of her "advances" where he practically leaves a trail of slime down her neck into her cleaveage, (why doesn't he just firmly turn her down? Because he's SKANKY), but also the film seems to imply that, though he is married, the bathroom sex is a justifiable act b/c A. She was asking for it B. Gale's wife is rumored to have (presumably an ADULT, non-STUDENT) lover in Spain. So later when this pissed-off lass "cries rape" (oh, it just gets yummier and yummier) Gale's life as a prof. at that school is over. Despite the fact that he was not convicted, apparently he cannot find a teaching job ANYWHERE else in the free world. Not even the virgin islands, where I hear you can get a medical degree for 5 bucks and a carton of menthols. So now we're in for some legendarily bad acting of the "look-ma-I'm-drunk" variety. You know, don't we all scream at people on the streets, carry bottles of liquor around w/ us i public, and open our mouths and leave them there like we're a stroke-victims whenever we're drunk? Gosh I know I do! I mean, it is LAUGHABLE! Spacey is SO BAD. It's like he had a secret bet w/ some of the crew guys or something. How could Pakula not notice? By the way, Kate Winslet's worst performance ever. EVER. Chin tremby, no tears, hideously contrived wailing pre-schooler fake-crying her way into more Kool-aid and cookies from mommy. AWFUL. We are supposed to believe Gale's meltdown is fueled by evil, adulterous wifey yanking kid away w/ her to Spain. The meltdown and loss of hope are at the center of an agreement he later sets up w/ Constance. The further objectification of women continues when Laura Linney's character "Constance" is given leukemia. Despite her UNSHAKEABLE opposition to the death penalty and her cavalry calling to save EVERY soul condemned, she decides the only thing to do now since "I'm sick" is to "kill myself and use my death to martyr a suicidal Gale for the anti-death penalty movement." We are asked to believe that since this is FOR A CAUSE it is ALL RIGHT. Yeah, Constance killing herself and leaving her beloved organization bereaved and without a leader is OKEE DOKEE and so totally a sane decision any educated, female democrat would make.And HEY! Don't worry kids, we get to see her death scene in all it's exploitive glory. Pakula says in the extras that he and Linney chose not to use a body double so it would be more "REAL" to him, her, and the other actors. It couldn't possibly be b/c she is SLENDER and BEAUTIFUL and quite a tasty feast for the eyes when she's all naked and writhing on the floor? Nothing like a hot lady who's nude and handcuffed w/ a bag over her head, suffocating, Eh? Remember when a chubby goth girl offers to reinact the murder scene for Winslet's reporter character earlier in the film I noticed she is asked to "please" NOT remove her clothes. DISGUSTING. SOOOOOO SEXIST. I don't even think Pakula knows how an educated, left-leaning informed female movie viewer like myself truly sees all this. The theme of this movie seems to be: "2 wrongs make a right." If your wife has an affair: fu*k your failing and desperate female student from behind while you're drunk at a party. If you disagree with the death penalty: forge your own death and then set up a drunken, suicidal divorced patsy to take the fall for it so that he, an "innocent" man, can be convicted to the "lethal needle" and you can prove, once-and-for-all, how the system you MANIPULATED and SNOWED is "flawed." The calculated, preposterous machinations one would have to have undertaken for this film's ending to rationally occur would be beyond the reach and scope of anyone who had a remote ammount of decency or the slightest sprinkling of respect for justice or, God forbid, truth...or for that matter, for women or themselves. THIS MOVIE IS DOG PUKE. Rent it so you can HATE it, as do I. On a positive note, the cinematography is gorgeous, every scene is glossy and perfectly lit, the extras rule, and the music, by Pakula's 2 sons, is very good.
  
  
• All who are for capital punishment ought to be hanged!
  By A2WMOFWHQNE90H on 2003-04-09
  My review title is a joke I once heard, but it is a much less convoluted oxymoron than this movie! I give it three stars for its suspense through most of the plot, which makes it never boring, and for some compelling acting. But through twists that repeatedly undermine the story you thought you were buying into, the film ultimately becomes self-destructive. I've seen it said in various reviews that this movie promotes an anti- death penalty agenda. Well, it sure does seem to much of the way through. But in the end I found myself seriously asking if this film might really be a joke that those reviewers never caught on to. I can really see supporters of capital punishment getting the last laugh here, having a field day in the end, however much they might have been put out with what they perceived along the way as propoganda. After mulling over this movie for a while, I grew to feel a little pride in my never having been a strong zealot one way or another on the capital punishment issue. For the film certainly shows how zealots for a cause can become fanatics who contradict the very principles that attracted them to the cause in the first place. And that amply happens to death penalty opponents in this case. If death penalty advocates want to make a case that opponents are not morally grounded and will sell out their very principles in an effort to promote them, the opponents of the death penalty in this movie have played right into the hands of such criticism. The supposed heroes of this movie think they've won a definitive victory that can't be turned against them. But instead they have done the ultimate in turning of their own cause on its head, and give the other side more ammunition than ever. I'll get no more specific, to avoid spoilers. There is suspense enough here to keep your interest. Just don't expect it to make coherent sense in the end.
  
  
• Nonsense
  By on 2003-01-29
  I have never seen such a waste of talent before in a film before. We see Kevin Spacey playing the same role he's played a million times, then we have sell out Kate Winslet with a bad American accent and the same facial expression throughout the entire film. The only good thing about this movie is Laura Linney's performance. Avoid this Hollywood tripe at all costs!
  
  
• Where is this movie coming from? Left? Right? or Abstract?
  By ABFOVDAXHBIK2 on 2003-08-01
  I found this movie to be quite well done, and I frankly don't see what all the whining is about from people who say that this movie is Anti-Death-Penalty.

  I suppose by creating a movie that features a main character (David Gale) who is an activist against the death penalty it suddenly becomes a movie that is 'propaganda' against the death penalty? This is the silliest thing I've ever heard!

  And if you watch the movie and recognize it as the work of art that it is, you would agree. When it comes down to it, I find that this movie has just as many arguments against anti-death penalty views as it does for. For instance, one of the main veins of the plot is featured in a radio broadcast with the Governer of Texas and Gale. Gale goes off on a tangent and the Governer comes right back at him with the question "Give me the name of one innoncent person who was killed through the death penalty". David has no answer...because as far as he knows there hadn't been any innoncent victims of the death penalty.
  
  Hello, did people miss this part? I mean this is a clear thread that supports the death penalty and it fits in to be an important part of the story.

  Without giving away the ending to the movie, because that is one of the story's strongest features, the ending, I will say this to all of those who are so quick to have their political viewpoints 'hurt' by this film: How valid is the point which was sent through the ending? Consider who was involved. Which was more perfect, the framing of Gale...or of the system that prosecuted him? In the desperation to make a case for something, one, lost in their passion, will go to great lengths...sometimes false lengths. I feel that this is a higher point made by this movie...whether or not the director intended it.

  So, in conclusion, I see this movie not as an anti-death penalty, nor as a pro-death penalty, but instead as an abstract depiction of the human ambition. It is a work of art...not some small minded propaganda as some are saying. If you watch this movie looking for something to whine about because the whole world doesn't believe exactly as you do, at least have the integrity to not taint the film with your poor-me's.

  The evidence is all in the movie. It is a film that points neither left, nor right, but points all-encompassing. That is what art is, a medium which transcends the limitations of the human mind.

  Whatever your views are, indulge with great pleasure!
  
  

• Modern Day Morality Story With Shades Of Puccini
  By APDPA11IZPYLN on 2004-12-06
  Set in the good ol' boy state of Texas, Kevin Spacey is Dr. David Gale, a brilliant university professor, accomplished author and comrade of a group called "DeathWatch" that vehemently opposes capital punishment/death penalty. David has a beautiful wife and little son but when his wife leaves him and takes his child away, David goes off the deep end,becomes an alcoholic and looses his tenured position at the university due to some allegations of a young student.
  
  Then, if things couldn't get any worse, David's closest friend & "DeathWatch" colleague, Constance Harroway, played by Laura Linney, turns up raped and violently murdered, David, of course, is the prime suspect. What with David's DNA taken from the crime scene he is tried, convicted and placed on death row to await his execution by lethal injection. He steadfastly denies any guilt in the murder while sitting on death row for several years. The story opens four days before Gale is to receive his state induced deadly drug cocktail.
  
  Enter reporter Bitsey Bloom, played by Kate Winslet. Bitsey is brought in to interview David in 3 separate 2 hour sessions. The story of David's crime is all told in flashback sequence. With an ending so terrific it will literally knock the wind right out of you!
  
  Also turning in fine performances are Gabriel Mann as Bitsey's co-worker, Zack Stemmons, a creepy, opera loving cowboy, Matt Craven as "DeathWatch" obsessed member, Dusty Wright and a young girl named Melissa McCarthy who turns in an adequate performance as a Goth girl named Nico.
  
  This movie is scripted well, keeps you guessing and more importantly, the punch in the stomach the story gives you in the end is well worth the watch.
  
  Highly Recommended & Happy Watching!
  
  
  
  
  
• Not perfect, but very good
  By A7TH1X8X065LD on 2003-01-24
  I saw an advanced screening of this movie, and I really found it to be thought provoking and powerful. Spacey and Winslet gave great, believable performances. Some of the editing threw me off, which kind of detracted from the the story. I had become very interested in this story and was pulled into it, then the way in which the movie transitioned between present and past pulled me back out. In spite of that, I really enjoyed this movie.
  I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone, so I won't give details. But my favorite part of the movie is the Govorner of Texas - a striking resemblance to GW. It was a nice touch.
  
  
• you'll probably feel cheated, and maybe insulted
  By A2MHENDCCRUJVV on 2003-10-05
  This would have been a boring propaganda film except for some frenzied camera work and many clues and events designed SOLELY to keep you from turning off the propaganda. In fact, the whole plot line with the "journalist racing against time to find out the truth" is nothing more than a red herring to keep you watching. Surprisingly, the putative "real" theme (propaganda against the death penalty), is ALSO a red herring. Therefore, most people will feel cheated after being deceived by this movie.

  The real theme that permeates every minute of this movie is that there are two types of people in this world, and the death penalty is merely a litmus test to distinguish them. People who oppose the death penalty are intelligent, educated, and caring people who know how to have fun, and those who disagree (Republicans) are stupid mean racists. Examples of the people the movie targets are Texans, George Bush, people with southern accents, and even people who wear cowboy hats and drive pickup trucks. Therefore, many people will be insulted by this movie.

  If you want to see this film because it opposes the death penalty, you may still feel cheated and insulted because it contains nothing you will find new, thought provoking, or an example of how to be persuasive. However, the movie IS persuasive. It is masterful in its consistent but subtle demonization of Republicans, Southerners, etc.
  
  

• Why the hostility?
  By A1C0EZXZDK6503 on 2005-07-06
  So many critics complained that this film had a message or agenda, and that the filmmaker beat the audience over the head with the message. They talk as though this is a bad thing... in sea of look-alike adventure films with identical car chases, exploding fireballs, and heroes that can fly through the air, here we have a plausible drama that addresses a contentious issue in American culture. Yes, Parker has an anti-death penalty opinion -- he's from England for heaven's sake, and Europeans normally have a dim view of the United States' love for capital punishment. Especially in Texas. Parker's politics were clear as far back as Mississippi Burning. Is he supposed to ignore his own beliefs and make another orgy of car chases, shootouts, explosions and unsafe sex? No, instead he asks us to think, and at the end, answer some questions that we'd rather not: Have we executed innocent men? And, if so, is it worth it? I may not agree completely with Parker's politics, but I admire his courage.
  
  
• Worth your time
  By A29N4Q80ARE5S9 on 2005-09-12
  After first picking up "The Life of David Gale" and reading its description, I was a bit turned off. Yes, it appeared thrilling and, heck, it MIGHT even sport a good enough mystery to keep me from walking away. But the plot was not very well explained, and I was hessitant about spending money on a film I didn't know much about (I'd never even heard of it before!). Seeing as the store wasn't asking anywhere near full price, I decided to give it a shot. After all, I am usually fond of Spacey's work.
  
  I wasn't expecting much when I first started viewing, but the film wasn't too slow to pick up. I was a bit turned off by the scenes of excessive converse, but in the end it all was essential to the plotline. This movie turned out to be a great, dynamic mystery with an unpredictable and unforgettable conclusion. It will leave you with mixed emotions of awe, sympathy, admiration, and even outrage at our justice system. "The Life of David Gale" set out to make a statement about capital punishment, and boy, did it do just that.
  
  Performances by Spacey and Winslet were pretty good, and the only character who I found burdened the film was Laura Linney's, who was, quite bluntly, annoying.
  
  
  Most viewers may not be able to stomach this film more than once, but all in all it is definately worth seeing.
  
  
  
• An In Your Face Message In Disguise As A Film
  By AVGGEAI1YGSAP on 2003-02-23
  This movie apparently has three goals. First, to provide a venue to oppose the death penalty. Second, to provide another offbeat role for Kevin Spacey. Three, to bash Texans in general and George W. Bush (by implication) in particular for their support for the death penalty and the number of executions carried out in the state.

  Spacey plays David Gale, a former philosophy professor and supposedly outstanding teacher with a first class intellect who is on death row in Texas. Gale grants reporter Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet) three interviews with him in the days before his execution. Ironically, he has been convicted of raping and murdering Constance Harraway (Laura Linney), his friend and fellow activist in Death Watch, a group opposing capital punishment. Bloom initially assumes Gale is guilty. However, as the interviews proceed in the three days before the scheduled execution, to the surprise of no one in the audience, she and her assistant Zack Stemmons (Gabriel Mann) uncover evidence that leads them to question the official version of events. The story unfolds in the form of flashbacks during the interviews with Gale, a technique which other reviewers have found distracting but that I felt was quite effective. As the movie unfolds, we learn additional complicating information, such as Harraway was dying of cancer at the time of her death and most importantly that Gale was an alcoholic who had already ruined his career and reputation due to an incident that occurred during a university party.

  While this story relies on the dual mysteries of how Harraway really died and whether Gale will be executed, there is no mystery at all regarding the motive of the director - to make a blantantly emotional and political appeal against the death penalty. He uses whatever techniques he can, including sexuality, strong language and reenactments of the crime almost at the level of snuff films. Kevin Spacey's performance is quite good, and as a whole I enjoyed the movie more than AMERICAN BEAUTY (I am sure to be in the minority with that opinion) but not nearly as much as K-PAX. The rest of the characters were pretty unidimensional, although Leon Rippey as Braxton Belyeu, Gale's attorney, and Matt Craven as Dusty Wright, a shadowy figure around the edges of DeathWatch, were well cast for their ambiguous roles. As the movie unfolds and the convoluted details get sorted out, the general shape of the only possible outcome for this impassioned sermon becomes clear, but the exact nature of how the events transpired is kept secret until the end and a few of the details are actually quite clever.

  If preaching about the immorality of the death penalty or the propaganda of liberal filmamkers will irritate you, don't see this movie. However, I am not a liberal and am not a blanket opponent of the death penalty, although I certainly recognize that it suffers from the problems of all human institutions. As a Kevin Spacey fan, I still found this movie entertaining, but felt that it's cleverness actually made it a less effective witness against the death penalty than the real life stories of people wrongfully convicted of murder and later exonerated and freed, including someone with whom I was personally acquainted. So this film is worthwhile if you are willing to simply watch a film with an interesting story while accepting the idea on which it is based at face value - it is a quite tense action movie. But if you want a great story, wonderful performances, moving screenwriting and a movie likely to inspire multiple viewings, this is defintely not it.
  
  

• Die David Gale, Die
  By A2Z0A3DOG0EVTY on 2003-09-25
  I don't understand pure liberal thinking and I probably never will. I also don't understand why and how academics get away with sounding so silly sometimes. But most importantly I don't understand why a film like THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE could get made. A film so patronizing it was designed to do one thing. What is that do you ask: to act as a sounding board for the liberal agenda? Or maybe just to discredit them? Hmm...maybe it was made to make right wingers look like evil jackasses? Whatever the answer, whomever the audience it fails on every level.

  Capital punishment is huge hot button topic. It's one that will be debated for a long time. DAVID GALE is specifically designed to play to those who agree with the mantra that capital punishment is wrong. I disagree with this notion so the film didn't at all play to me at all.

  THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE follows an intrepid reporter named Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet, Holy Smoke) whom has been given the opportunity to interview death row inmate David Gale (Kevin Spacey, The Shipping News). Gale is a local college philosophy professor who was convicted of murdering his colleague, Constance Harraway (Lauren Linny, Maze). They both worked for an anti-death penalty group called Deathwatch.

  By all accounts Gale is innocent of all charges, but why is he on death row? As the story unfolds you begin to understand why and if by the end of the film you still have faith in the other side, you better watch out. DAVID GALE made me want to become a death row guard just so jackasses like him don't exist. But that's the end of the movie, I'll get to that later.

  DAVID GALE is missing one crucial element, humanity. The story while shot nicely, with vibrant colors and beautiful framing is preachy to say the least and at worst patronizing. From the very first moment the film has an agenda which is more important than the character's in the film. For the most part David Gale doesn't talk like a human being but like a political manifesto. Instead of having meaningful conversation, he more or less speaks in intellectual quips.

  Kevin Spacey is a good actor, but when he's not directed well enough his hidden intensity can become dulled. This performance very much mirrors his performance in `PAY IT FORWARD' while adequate it walks that thin line between great and dull and for the most part it comes out being the latter.

  Bitsey Bloom is the exact opposite of this, for her realization comes not because she wants it to happen, but because the screenplay calls her to be hard edged until near the end when she fights to get at the truth. It's a shame because Winslet gives a great performance. (As a side note I almost wished they had let her use her own accent, because in this film it seemed like her American accents was holding her back.)

  Director Alan Parker (Pink Floyd: The Wall) is one of my favorites, cause even if his films fail at least there compelling. But this film is so flat and so fake, I will chalk it up to a bad decision he made.

  It's at this moment that I would like to thank first time screenwriter Charles Randolph (The Interpreter) for finally offering to me the definition of the word "schmuck". That was one of those words everybody assumed I knew what it meant and now I know and boy it's not as bad as I thought it was. As for his screenplay on a whole, it sucks. It's a first draft at best, why Universal decided to put it's money behind this clunker of a script is beyond me.

  It has so many flaws; the worst offenders are scenes that just don't belong. A red Herring moment with a shower just included for jumps, a scene in which Gale has a conversation with his son that is so unbelievably bad it should have been rewritten. Another big problem I had with this movie is if you work for a big name news magazine why would the send a top notch reporter out with an intern, wouldn't they send a publicist or someone who know their way around a story? Hmm... I don't know. It kind of bugged me,

  But the worst scene is the very last. I won't ruin it for you but I will say this: Do the ends ever justify the means? For David Gale they absolutely do not.

  Plus to movie for some reason thinks it's necessary to be funny at moments when it shouldn't. Yes there are jokes in this film, not one of which works. If the film had been a satire, this film just may have worked. But alas, THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE is a drama, and a poor one at that.

  The makers of THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE should all sit down and watch Alfred Hitchcock's ROPE, I felt like Jimmy Stewart's character as the end of the movie began to unfold. Is David Gale a hero? In my book no, he's like a pro-life protester that kills an abortion doctor, he hasn't helped his cause, and he's destroyed it. This film is a waste of some powerful potential.

  THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE is one that's not worth living.
  
  

• What were they thinking?
  By A1JH5J1KQAUBMP on 2003-10-11
  Death penalty opponent David Gale (Kevin Spacey), himself imprisoned on Death Row for the murder of a fellow activist (Laura Linney), tells his story to a newspaper reporter (Kate Winslet) supposedly so that she can clear his name. This well-made film with its excellent cast starts out well but soon becomes implausible and silly. It may appear to be anti-death penalty propaganda, but the illogical surprise resolution of the story reveals it to be completely ambivalent. While masquerading as a serious film, it is actually an overwritten mystery with a dunderhead plot that portrays those on both sides of the issues as fools or worse--gun-toting good ol' boys on one side and dishonest crazies on the other. If it doesn't offend you regarding your position on the death penalty, it should offend you as a lover of good movies.
  
  
• Wow, totally blown away. Thankyou Alan Parker*
  By A1KD8NJPZ01R37 on 2006-02-26
  Under-The-Radar film that I put off watching for awhile, and finally, almost grudgingly watched. You think it's a journey into the mind of a seriel-killer or something, no. It's actually a brilliant movie as well as a 'taut' thriller.
  
  Not what I expected at ALL. And it's just a Blow-you-away (with a brain) movie. We're lucky that solid people like Alan Parker don't care about political crap and just do what they love to do, make a good effing movie that makes you think a little. And even though it's totally gone by un-noticed, I'm glad he did it. And thankyou to the writer who gave a special gift in the writing.
  
  Extremely well written by Charles Randolph (?-I think that's his last name) who brought a realistic acedemia feel to the Professor and brilliance to The Life of David Gale.
  
  I don't want to give anything away, seriously just go rent it, buy it, or whatever, just see it. You won't be disappointed.
  
  
  
  
• K-Pax
  By A10WTW7M1JMERN on 2003-01-03
  This is in response to the, as yet, unreleased "Life of David Gale". In this review filled with sour grapes one of the movies I particlarly like is K-Pax. It was a good picture, and very different from most. I get the feeling it is written by someone who just plain doesn't like Kevin Spacey. The writer panned just about every one of Mr. Spacey's movies. I am a big fan and will continue to go to the movies he is in. Pardon my ignorance, but how does one critize a movie not even released? If the writer is a critic by profession, i.e.,Ebert, my advice is forget it go see it for yourselves. Those people are usually all wrong.
  
  
• Suspenseful and Haunting
  By A267PPA46C0EZY on 2003-07-30
  The performances of Kevin Spacey, Laura Linney, and Kate Winslet are extraordinary in this sleeper hit. Spacey plays David Gale, a philosophy professor and doting father who finds himself on Death Row for the rape and murder of his friend, Constance Hallaway (played by Laura Linney). With only three days before his scheduled execution, Gale chooses reporter Elizabeth Bloom, played by Winslet, for a series of final interviews to explain how he has been wrongly convicted. "Bitsey", as Elizabeth goes by (it's a little hard to believe she allows herself to go by this nickname, as she seems to want to be taken seriously), finds herself caught up in Gale's story and becomes sympathetic with his misfortunes and she begins examining the loose threads that made up his eventual conviction.

  If you have strong pro-death penalty opinions or are religiously devoted, and are not open minded about this issue, you may want to take a pass on this film. Devoted Bush fans may also not be impressed, as you can't help notice the subtle poking fun of Texas and Texan politicians in the movie.

  This movie is done with flashbacks, which creates suspense and interest. The flashback scene that begins the movie is of a car breaking down, and this reoccurs and is foreshadowed throughout the movie enough so that by the end, you're pretty sure how things are going to turn out. However, you will find yourself surprised because there's more to this film than a predictable ending and a nicely tied up story.
  
  

• Possibly the worst movie ever made...
  By A2NM4Q3JO1X6JU on 2003-09-02
  and certainly one of the most offensive. The very definition of ill-conceived, the Life of David Gale puts across a miserable view of humanity, managing to paint those on both sides of the death penalty issue as either redneck ingrates or morally bankrupt zealots. It's impossible for me to comprehend how Kevin Spacey, Kate Winslet and the other actors involved could have waded through this peurile script and deemed it worthy of their talents. Alan Parker horribly overdirects this obnoxious mess, practically every scene has some glaring detail that annoys. Characters butter rolls endlessly or stab at the air with oversize cigars, every once and awhile a quick montage of "significant" words will flash by onscreen. It's amazing that this is the same man who directed the fabulous neo-noir Angel Heart and several other worthy films. The Life of David Gale is an abomination, a shameful cinematic stinkpile that hangs a tacky thriller on the hook of an incredibly complex, quintessentially human issue. The last shot will make you want to throw your beverage of choice at the screen. Finally, something both sides of the death penalty debate can agree on.
  
  
• I liked it!
  By A2Y3G2WO9BWPRX on 2003-10-01
  I don't need to tell you what THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE is about, there are plenty of other reviews that do just that. I would, however, like to explain to people why they should see this movie.
  I should first start by saying that I am for the death penalty, even after seeing this movie. But, for me the thing that was most compelling was that someone would actually let themselves die when self-clearing evidence exists. It makes sense that Kevin Spacey is a professor of philosophy in this movie, for, this movie is at times very philosophical. It is intriguing to me that with the growing number of suicide bombers and martyrs in the world, that this movie did not gain more attention based on the American ideal that life is too precious to die for. But does that mean that if life is sooo precious in the U.S. that we should abolish the death penalty? I don't know. That is a question to ponder.

  On the lighter side, I found it kinda cheesy that Kevin Spacey plays a modern day martyr. But his acting is superb, and I don't normally care for his work.

  My review is a bit scattered I know, but I hope that you will take into consideration the quality of the movie and not the quality of my review. As I mentioned earlier, I am for the death penalty, but, this movie expanded my horizons and allowed me to "see the other side." It did not change my opinion, however it did make me think, which is why I believe that Kevin Spacey and Kate Winslet took their roles. I intend to purchase this DVD and show it to all my friends so that they too can be shown the "other side." And I think you should too!
  
  

• Amazing Done - Great Movie
  By A1868XU21QJ0N on 2003-12-03
  The Life of David Gale is by far one of the greatest movies I have ever seen. It incorporates everything you can ask for in a movie into one edge-of-your-seat thriller. Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey (David Gale, American Beauty) and Oscar Nominee Kate Winslet (Bitsey Bloom, Titanic) star in this powerful film. David Gale is one of the leading activists for Death Watch, an anti-death activists group. After making a faulty decision at a party, Gale's reputation is scared for the rest of his life. This movie had many high points and a few low points to go with it. I believe that many people are not giving this movie the credit it deserves.
  Gale is a College Philosophy Professor before his reputation is tarnished and is looked upon as a different person. David is accused of rape and murder and is sentenced to the death penalty in Texas. Gales wish is to have reporter Betsey Bloom cover his story four days before he is to be executed. During those final four days, Betsey Bloom tries to discover the truth and has to decide if Gale is in fact being truthful or in fact lying. Betsy, along with her intern reporter Zack (Gabriel Mann) work together very uniquely through many jaw-dropping scenes to an even more astonishing conclusion.
  Some of the points about this movie that I felt were very well done include the eye-popping conclusion and the chronological order of events. I very much admire the way this particular films plot went in no obvious order. Flashbacks are always a great device to use in movies, and have a very powerful effect. The conclusion is the best part of this movie, hands down. If you don't enjoy any part of this movie, you cannot deny the power of the ending scenes.
  The low point in "The Life of David Gale" that really sticks out in my mind is the acting. Kevin Spacey did an amazing job playing a man on death row. The only time his acting was questionable was when he is drunk roaming around the neighborhood. Kate Winslet's performance was good as a reporter, except when she is obviously over doing it a little bit. I may say this is the low point in the movie, but that's only because the movie is nearly flawless.
  The power of this movie isn't only about what you see on the big screen. You have to look deeper into what the movie is getting at. Putting your life on the line for a good cause, speaking up for what you believe in, and finding out the real truth behind any story. This movie not only depicts our modern day society and teaches us a lesson about ourselves, but provides a very entertaining way of learning. This is a four star movie and I give it two thumbs up.
  
  
• Predictable Nonsense
  By A35PU1B8EZB5RF on 2004-03-11
  I would like to start off by saying that if you have yet to see this movie you may not want to read my review. In order to discuss a movie, in which the biggest flaw is the plot, requires that I discuss the plot.

  The biggest problem with this film is that it tries way to hard to impress and ultimately falls completely flat. The movie's attempts to convince us that Kevin Spacey is completely innocent are ruined as soon as you wonder why the hell it took him so long to get someone to help clear his name. Spacey claims that he just wants his son to know that he was innocent, but is willing to die. A logical person would realize that it might be better to actually be released for you crime and then go see your son, but Winslett's character lacks any and all logic so she buys the story. Perhaps I'm too cynical but if the Usual Suspects has taught me anything, it's that Kevin Spacey is EVIL.

  My next big complaint is the fact that Winslett's attempt to save Spacey is thwarted by her car over-heating. Her car had over-heated earlier in the film and the cruel hand of fate saw to it that it over-heat at the exact moment she was trying to save a life; what irony! Worse yet is how melodramatic this scene is; I actually broke out laughing at this part of the film.

  The last swerve in the film is so incredibly inane that it's almost impossible to find the right wording to insult, but I'll try. So, Spacey's dead and Winslett feels bad because she wasn't able to save him. A package arrives for her containing another videotape, which reveals that Spacey was all a part of the suicide to make a political statement about the death penalty. Let me get this straight; Spacey is fine with everyone knowing that he died to make a point so long as they don't know that he was in on it? So he then sends a tape to a reporter proving that he was? Huh? Well, maybe that's not the case; maybe he sent it just for her benefit. But then that raises this important question: what's the point of that? He's dying but for some reason he wants to shock the reporter that tried to save him?

  The Life Of David Gale tries way too hard to swerve you, and as a result you can figure out the ending about half way through it.
  
  

• Saw it twice in theatre, loved it, but sort of depressing...
  By A2NX5UZ6WEZF0R on 2005-03-21
  I first saw this film, when it arrived at public theatre's. I almost went to a free viewing with friends but never got around to it. The first time I saw it, was by myself, and I thought it was an intelligent film, (not for people who don't pay attention when they watch a movie) I heard many criticisms about this film, and how it was so difficult to figure out? In actuality, it was very easy to figure out, if you just paid attention. The second time I watched this film was also in theatre's and I was on a date. When the movie ended, my date turned to me and said SO DAVID GALE DID KILL HIS FRIEND AFTER ALL. That made me so mad. He completely and utterly missed the point of the entire film. How stupid can you be. The ending revealed all your questions. David never killed his collegue. She was terminally ill, and the three of them, including david which the last tape that he sent to bitzy at the end clearly showed) they all conspired to set up david, to show that the system is flawed and the death penalty executed an innocent man. Their careers were dedicated to the anti death penalty issue, and they had a difficult time getting their points across when they were alive, so dying for what they believed in is what they all decided to do. Except for the cowboy. She killed herself, because she was dying anyway, and she felt it important to die demonstrating the flaws in the system. They proved it was very easy to set up a person who was innocent, and very easy for the system to make a mistake by executing an innocent person. It's as simple as that. One critic called this film MORALLY BANKRUPT. But he obviously wasnt paying attention to what the movie was really about. The compassion of human beings being given the death penalty, and to preserve life, even when a person has been convicted. The fact that they are still human beings. That's not morality? That is how the anti death penalty activists felt. The movie was depressing, but I'm a huge fan of kevin Spacey, and I was moved by his compassionate character. He is a very talented actor.
  
  
• The Life of David Gale
  By AC06F0LPHI1TW on 2005-08-23
  Movies of this genre tend to be quite predictable, and so I try to avoid them; but under the impression that the ending had a unique twist, I gave it a try. In the end, I find myself in a position where I have to admit that this is an excellent movie--and not only because the ending is not (thankfully) predictable. The movie obviously has an agenda, and therefore will obviously have its diehard detractors, but objectively, it does make a strong case for why capital punishment is unacceptable.
  
  
  
  
  
• Short & to the point!
  By A29GUVLVYSKG7 on 2005-12-16
  AVOID THIS LOSER OF A FILM...unless you have NO life and just want to waste 2+ hours! The time is better spent picking lint out of your bellybutton! Unless you are a liberal who thinks criminals can do no wrong & have more rights than they give their victims--then it's right up your wrong-headed alley!
  
  
• Overdramatic, cliche, contrived, and VERY predictable!
  By AWWALBIY9U840 on 2003-02-23
  I was an extra in this film. I live in Huntsville, Texas, and I played an anti death penalty protester. Now, I'm a liberal in real life and also against the death penalty (probably the only person IN Huntsville who is, it seems sometimes), and even though the message of the film seems very anti death penalty itself, the film's moralistic, preachy message made me uncomfortable. If I wanted a sermon, I'd go to church. This is typical, liberal Hollywood propaganda. If I want to see a film addressing a controversial issue, I prefer for the film to use valid points from BOTH sides of said issue, in order to gain more understanding of what is being presented. This movie not only preached, it was mind-numbingly BORING, and the "twist" was easy to figure out way, way before it was revealed. It's the kind of manipulative Hollywood tearjerker that tries to make the audience sob and howl at the "poor plight" of this wrongly accused man, and it's shallow, pointless, EXCEEDINGLY cliche (ripe with horrible dialogue), and did I forget to mention BORING? I had fun as an extra, and I was looking forward to seeing it, but ultimately I am disappointed. Not to mention, Kate Winslet was a complete and absolute spoiled primadonna, VERY hard to work with, and totally self-centered. But that's another story.
  
  
• The Death of Subtlety
  By A1TJPMB7N776WS on 2003-02-22
  Alan Parker, the director of "The Life of David Gale" (shouldn't this really have been called The Death of David Gale?), is a man who never met a political cause he didn't like. He's met prison life/drug enforcement in "Midnight Express" and civil and human rights in "Mississippi Burning." Both of these films are fun, populist movies: entertaining but bland and exploitive.
  In "David Gale, " Parker takes on the Death Penalty as embodied by David Gale (Kevin Spacey), a fervent death penalty activist who is on death row and who calls in a magazine reporter, Bitsey Bloom (a radiant Kate Winslet) to help clear his name in the four days prior to his execution.
  There is a decidedly ugly anti-intellectual bias in this film and setting it at a University and populating it with educated, though nasty and poorly behaved people only gives Parker more ammunition to spew his bile. He is out to make a point here and instead of using subtlety he uses a chain saw.
  Winslet, looking slim and beautiful and Laura Linney both do their best with what is given them. But Spacey has been playing a variation of this role for the last few years and it is becoming old and stale. Where is the back-stabbing, acerbic, underhanded, charming Spacey of years gone by? What he needs to do is to mix it up. Playing roles that always show him in a good light has now officially becoming boring.
  "The Life of David Gale" could have been, at the very least an intriguing murder mystery but unfortunately, Parker has gone the easy route of exploitation and cheap thrills thereby produced a dull, flat film that has nothing new to say and nowhere to go but up.
  
  
• Mindless and cliche thriller that could have been much more
  By A3PRE5BUL6UZ3A on 2003-06-24
  The Life of David Gale revolves around hot-to-trot reporter Bitzy Bloom (why the screenwritter chose that name out of every other name in the world I will never know.) Bitzy (Kate Winslet) is to interview former college professer and well known death row abolitionist David Gale (Kevin Spacey). Ironically enough he is on death row for the rape and murder of one of his colleges/friends played by Laura Linney.
  Now, Bisty has three days to figure out if Davids story of being framed is true, and who the real culprit is.
  SOUNDS ORIGINAL AND INTRUIGING EH? NOT REALLY.
  This was a big suprise especially from director Alan Parker who has brought us classics like Angel Heart and Midnight Express.
  Where the movie failed is where 2/3 of thrillers these days do, comming up with an original plotline without the overuse of cliches and wannabe twists. This movie is full of both.
  While Kevin Spacey underplays the role and delivers a rock solid performance, Titanic chick Kate Winselt overacts to the point of no return. This makes the film even more unbeliveable.
  Laura Linney delivers a belivable and moving performance as the over-zelick death row abolitionist who will stop at nothing to prove a cause. Unfortunatly neither Spacey or Linney's performances can save a screenplay that uses the "out of service" cell phone cliche and is expected to be taken seriously.
  I understand what The Life of David Gale was trying to deliver in terms of its message on death row and capital punishment, but it did not need to be delivered to us in a package marked cliche.
  
  

• K-Pax
• American Beauty (Widescreen Edition)
• The Usual Suspects (Special Editon)
• Seven (New Line Platinum Series)
• Primal Fear