Columbus Circle (2012)

Directed by: George Gallo | 90 minutes | thriller | Actors: Selma Blair, Amy Smart, Jason Lee, Giovanni Ribisi, Kevin Pollak, Beau Bridges, Jason Antoon, Jerry Penacoli, Robert Guillaume, Samm Levine, Robert Della Cerra, Lauren Gallagher

With decent actors you can go a long way, but in the end a good, or at least believable, screenplay and appealing characters will have to be in a film to keep the viewer interested. Unfortunately, George Gallo, the writer and director of the “thriller” ‘Columbus Circle’, doesn’t seem to have gotten that memo. His shortcomings in the scripts for the ‘Bad Boys’ films could still be somewhat obscured by a lot of action and explosions, but in a thriller dependent on dramatic renditions, in which tension must also be effectively generated, there is less to disguise.

Although, it may not be incredibly exciting, until about half an hour before the end the viewer remains hopeful for a satisfying denouement. The apartment complex setting has the potential for a good, claustrophobic atmosphere, the events and characters are quite mysterious and the actors are of reasonable caliber – Kevin Pollak, Beau Bridges, Giovanni Ribisi, Jason Lee – but as the story progresses it just gets better and better It’s clear that Gallo has an idea of ​​how the film should come across – the exciting music and close-ups and zoom-ins suggest a chilling nail-biter – that’s unfortunately not enough to build the whole thing credibly. The extent of Abigail’s (Selma Blair) agoraphobia is not plausible and the terror that is generated early on does not come across to the viewer. Yes, it would be very annoying if the hubby were to see the recently beaten neighbor Lilian (Amy Smart) being dragged out of the hallway into Abigail’s room, but it’s not Norman Bates, The Terminator, or Freddy Krueger who is about to is grabbing them.

But that’s not even that insurmountable. Well, the sense of terror isn’t conveyed or substantiated well enough, but it’s hard to imagine that for Abigail – who has become a hermit and quite shy – experiences it all that way. It will still be interesting to see how the plot will go for her and which skeletons will come out of the closet. It’s unfortunately at this point that the film collapses like a plum pudding. Loose storylines that showed promise (such as the story of janitor Klandermann [Kevin Pollak]) lead nowhere, and potentially interesting side characters (such as Giovanni Ribisi, Beau Bridges) hardly get anything to do or die abruptly. And the last act is both predictable and utterly unbelievable, with not even the just ending satisfying the viewer because it feels so contrived. No, ‘Columbus Circle’ is unfortunately a waste of the production values ​​and the reasonable amount of talent the cast possesses.