As if being abducted by bad guys in Cellular
weren’t enough, now Kim Basinger’s not even safe around Christmas! I mean, damn
can’t the poor woman get a break? Life for Della Meyers (Basinger) ain’t exactly
a bowl of cherries to begin with--her husband, played by the superb Craig Sheffer,
is an abusive bully with a hair trigger temper who punches the wall at he
believes is the slightest infraction. Running out of wrapping paper, Della is
more than happy to make a trip to the mall on Christmas Eve, just to get out of
the house. But, getting caught up in the psycho-crazed chore of just trying to
find a parking spot, Della’s holiday rage gets the better of her and she leaves
a surly note on a car that’s taking up two parking spaces.
Yet this has repercussions, for once Della comes out of the mall, she comes face to face with Chucky (Lukas Haas), the owner of the car, and his gang of goons, who’re all looking for rough trade as they confront the seemingly helpless Della. Ah, but Della proves to be a resourceful mouse in this cat and mouse chase. The film, which is slow-paced to begin with, now starts to lose credibility as Della turns into a female Rambo, taking down each and every one of the gang members in a merry chase that leads into the deep dark woods. And Chucky and the boys--who appear to be urban bred and born--suddenly develop expert tracker skills when they hunt her down just by the scent of her perfume.
I’m willing to suspend my disbelief just like anybody else, but While She Was Out is really pushing it. Basinger is a great actress, but even she can’t convince me that she’s able to take on--and beat--a group of young men, one by one, in hand to hand combat. And as far as the guys are concerned, once the surviving gang members start seeing their buddies start dropping like flies, they would be so out of there. The further the story goes, trying to maintain this ridiculous, contrived premise, the more silly it becomes. Instead of a thriller, we’re watching a cartoon with one cardboard character fighting a bunch of other cardboard cutouts. Kim Basinger is one of the best actresses working today, and she deserves better than this. And so do we. Skip this one.
--SF
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