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List Price: $14.99 | | Label: Walt Disney Video
Salesrank: 22387
Released: April 6, 2004 |
| Our Price: $7.35 |
| Used Price: $4.75 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Two of Hollywood's brightest stars, Meryl Streep (THE HOURS, ADAPTATION), and Liam Neeson (GANGS OF NEW YORK, SCHINDLER'S LIST) deliver spellbinding performances in this riveting, suspense-filled thriller! A small, close-knit community is rocked by a shocking murder -- and the only suspect is the teenage son of a respected local family. Suddenly, Dr. Carolyn Ryan (Streep) and her husband, Ben (Neeson) are faced with a gut-wrenching dilemma: Whether to risk everything on their son's innocence ... or protect him from his possible guilt! Devastating yet powerfully entertaining, you're sure to agree with critics everywhere who found BEFORE AND AFTER thrilling from beginning to end!
Description of Before and After:
Liam Neeson and Meryl Streep play a couple going through a parents' nightmare: Their son (Edward Furlong) is accused of murdering a local girl. What's worse, he's gone into hiding, seeming to lend credence to the charges. Neeson, as a passionate, intuitive artist, tries to take matters into his own hands; when he finds what appear to be blood-stained clothes in the kid's car, he cleans the whole thing up and winds up destroying evidence, making matters increasingly worse. Before and After is a solid if stolid drama, with a strong, controlled performance by Streep as the worried wife and mother, while Neeson comes off as overwrought playing the controlling father. Given the subject matter and the presence of director Barbet Schroeder, this movie should be a lot more interesting than it is. --Marshall Fine
Before and After Reviews:
GREAT!!!! 
2009-04-10 - This is a GREAT movie. I was on the end of my chair until the end. It was very well acted by all. This movie is a must see! The scenery is beautiful also and the story line is great! Before and after is a great title...how your life can change in a second! See it!
Accusations. 
2009-01-22 - Before and After starring Meryl Streep and Liam Neeson is a decent mystery drama but I wish the characters weren't so one-demensional. Edward Furlong's conflicting performance saves this film from sinking, why doesn't this young man do more films? Streep overacts, not sure why everyone makes such a fuss over her? The ending is pretty obvious, this is a mixed bag for me.
An average adaptation of a disturbing book 
2008-09-30 - To put it simply, Before and After is a story about a family of four whose lives are forever altered when their son/brother is named a prime suspect in the death of the boy's girlfriend. His father finds evidence of the crime in the trunk of his son's car and disposes of it immediately, terrified of what it all means. Thus the story is also about the lengths to which a father goes to protect his son.
There's no doubt that the book is richer than the movie. I can't deny that. I will say, though, that having seen the movie first, I am able to appreciate it in a way I maybe wouldn't be able to if I'd seen it after reading the book. There are some changes that are a bit obnoxious. For example, the death scene is different. I understand why they changed it. It was necessary in order to gain more sympathy for Jacob. I think this movie was trying to show us how bad things can happen in normal families without having to ask quite so much of the viewer. Yes, it does water down the message. In fact, it completely changes the message. Not only has the death scene been Hollywoodized, so has the character of Jacob. There's that strong hint of uncontrollable anger in him, but he doesn't do the same horrible things that the book Jacob does. The tension is still there, but the dilemma is far more simplistic and commercialized. As a result, the movie feels, at times, like a lifeless version of the novel. But what do you expect? That's Hollywood. At least we still have the book for those with the initiative to read it. Just be warned, the book is quite disturbing. I read it so long ago and I don't think that I was able to appreciate all the layers to it at the time, so I can't really recommend it. But what I do know is that it's got more depth to it than the movie does.
But none of this is really helpful to those who haven't read the book. On its own, the movie makes for a compelling story but it does have some flaws. I thought the acting was OK, though the characters were a bit one-dimensional. Jacob didn't seem to express much emotion which makes it hard to relate to him. This is kind of ironic, given the fact that the movie was drastically altered to make him more sympathetic to the viewer. Honestly, though, if Jacob had been portrayed in the movie the way he was portrayed in the book, it would have been impossible to get through the film because the viciousness of his actions combined with his zero personality would have gotten to be too much. As for the plot, I think it was interesting enough, though even if you haven't read the book, you may feel like it's a bit tame.
I did really love the setting. The whole atmosphere of the movie was perfect. There's that sense of isolation from the world but it's not entirely unpleasant. In a weird way, it's almost comforting. That sounds strange, I know. I think the movie does a good job conveying both the suffocation and the love of family.
Wake me when it's over
2008-01-05 - When sulky teen Jacob Ryan (Edward Furlong) is accused of killing his girlfriend, his parents (Meryl Streep, Liam Neeson) first try to cover up what really happened; later, the truth comes out. Or is it the truth?
How such talented actors could make such an abysmal film is nothing short of amazing. The movie is just bad. Every word that the characters say sounds like, well, movie dialogue. None of it rings true. Everyone - from the parents, to the boy, to his little sister, to the lawyer - is way too Noble and Heroic to be believable. The pregnant pauses, pained expressions, and lofty platitudes about loving one's family and doing the right thing are over-done and just plain boring.
There's no question Streep and Neeson are fine actors, but here they over-act shamelessly, hampered by ridiculous dialogue and a script that never quite knows where it's going. Alfred Molina is good as the lawyer, but he is still saddled with trite dialogue and courtroom drama that would have embarrassed Perry Mason. Furlong's specialty was playing alienated, sullen kids, but he overdoes it and sleepwalks through the movie. The corny voice-over narration saying life changes forever after an event like being accused of murder isn't true; their life seems pretty much the same afterward. I give it two stars for the picturesque New England scenery.
A Much Underrated Film
2006-12-10 - Since I missed this movie when it played in theatres and love anything that Meryl Streep does and also am a big fan of the writer Rosellen Brown, whose novel the film was based on, I rented the DVD, expecting the worst, from some of the reviews I had read. I am happy to say that my time was not wasted in watching "Before and After." Meryl Streep as always is the consummate actress. When she is on the screen, you cannot take your eyes off her. Liam Neeson certainly is no slouch as an actor either.
The film stays fairly close to the story line of the novel, as best I recall. Ms. Brown's novels, though very serious, always ring true. In her world, nothing is promised. In this instance a family living in Massachusetts is torn apart when the teenage son Jacob is accused of murdering a local teenage girl. While both the novel and film are entitled "Before and After," we are dealing essentially with the "after" here, as in one moment both our entire lives and the lives of those we love can be irrevocably changed. This movie asks hard questions. To what lengths should one go to in protecting his family? Should one tell the truth no matter what the cost? Is one innocent until proven guilty?
This is certainly a film well worth watching. If you liked the movie-- or even if you didn't-- you will find the novel ever more thought-provoking.
