Absolute Power

Day 242 - 8/30/09 - Movie #238

BEFORE: Don't know much about this film - just that it stars Clint Eastwood and no monkeys -

THE PLOT: A career thief witnesses a horrific crime involving the U.S. President.

AFTER: I dunno - I found this a little far-fetched...I mean, I can buy Gene Hackman as the U.S. President, and thanks to Slick Willie Clinton I can believe that the U.S. President likes to get it on with women other than the First Lady (come on, isn't that one of the reasons for trying to become President?) - but seeing Gene Hackman as the President engaging in rough extramarital sex? We're into official TMI territory here.

And the whole thing takes place while Clint Eastwood's character, Luther Whitney, is burglarizing the woman's home, and he just happens to duck into her vault of valuables, which has a convenient two-way mirror, so he can watch? And then the Secret Service happens to miss a key piece of evidence while cleaning up the ensuing crime scene, which he just happens to find? I'm having trouble calculating the overwhelming odds against all of these little things adding up to one unlikely movie plot.

I can buy Ed Harris as a Washington D.C. cop, who contacts Whitney (since he's on a short list of people who could have committed the burglary), and Eastwood manages to charm him, throw him off the trail, and pretend to help him solve the crime (another series of unlikely events) while buying the time he needs to clear his name.

So, instead of fleeing the country, a common thief decides to go up against one of the most powerful men in the world, who has the resources of the Secret Service, CIA and FBI at his disposal. Right...

RATING: 5 out of 10 fake passports