dale-51649 Basically a couple of high school BFFs take a post grad trip to Thailand and meet a cute guy from Australia. He's a sleaze, but so are they. They end up both throwing him one, in sequence, within hours of meeting the lucky dude. Turns out he is not only using them for sex, but also for reasons more dangerous.This film would have been better as a spoof. There is one line that is sort of its pivot point, when Danes says "I wasn't that scared in jail, I''ve had worse hair cuts". They should have taken it from there and gone with the obligatory GIRL FIGHT:' Picture this : Beckensale " :shut up , clown nose, get your own man" Danes : f"stuff it, you pompous pixie nose Brit., without famous parents you'd be making BBC infomercials with that half sis of yours". Then they could spin round and round with a handful of hair. It could have been a slap stick bonanza, and they should have seized the day.Instead they go down the old movie of the week path, violins and all. The story is also sort of confusing, where its tough to tell who knew what when. Did they know about the drugs? Did one? Did both help plant it? I don't know if that is intentional, or if it's just bad writing. They also left you "hanging," literally, when it came to the "lesbe friends" overtones. Oh sure, Danes was pretty aggressive in some scenes (yikes), but they missed a golden opportunity to go anywhere with it.

grantss Best friends Alice Marano (played by Claire Danes) and Darlene Davis (Kate Beckinsale) are celebrating finishing high school by holidaying in Thailand. In Thailand they are befriended by Nick Parks who convinces them to travel with him to Hong Kong. Little do they know that he is using them to smuggle drugs into the country. While trying to leave Thailand they are caught with the drugs, arrested and sentenced to 33 years in jail. In desperation they hire a locally- based American lawyer, Hank Greene (Bill Pullman), to try to get them released.OKish drama. Had a very interesting set up and the plot was intriguing for the most part. However, it falters towards the end and the conclusion is rushed, implausible, trite and contrived. Could have been so much better.Decent, though not great, performances from Claire Danes, Kate Beckinsale, Bill Pullman and Jacqueline Kim.

ComedyFan2010 This is a common movie line about a horrible situation that happens every once in a while when people from better off countries go on vacations into more exotic locations. I haven't watched the movies other reviews compared Brokedown Palace to, so my review is not a result of having seen better movies.I didn't really get if this was a movie based on a true story. Some things that I found online say so but I couldn't find much information on the girls involved.The story idea itself is pretty good. I didn't find the girls were too stupid. sure, very young and naive. These days I would not fall for what they did, but who knows what would have happened back then. Never was in this situation fresh out of high school, but definitely remember that I was having way more trust in people. So it was not hard to sympathize with the characters.The problems in the movie come from certain cheesiness and unbelievable moments. The phrases used were very often very common ones. The lawyer suddenly wanting to help them without money being left was unbelievable and cheesy. The prison sure didn't look horrible nor were the other inmates where even the biggest bitch was nothing I would be too afraid of. The final decision of Alice and what it resulted in was like an ending when one couldn't come up with anything better. Sure she could have sacrificed herself for her friend, but the scene was just a joke.That said, what holds the movie is the great performance by the actors. Claire Danes is especially great. Her acting was brilliant and navigated the emotions of the viewers. I loved the scene where she hears from the lawyer that he believes her. Another thing that I liked is that even after it ended we were never told if one of them was indeed guilty. One keeps on repeating hat happened in one's head and find the answer. If only one would polish up the problematic parts I mentioned before the movie would have been much better.

Der_Schnibbler The movie is a predictable Hollywood version of a women-in-prison film. Since the sensitive little Americans have their sensibilities so easily shocked from the sterilized, fake society in which they are reared and bred, BROKEDOWN PALACE makes sure not to rattle their cages too hard. And so the girls do get in a rather tight situation but, naturally, nothing bad will REALLY happen to them: no beatings, no violence, no rape (or "sexual harassment," for you PC slaves), nothing truly challenging or out of the ordinary.What we have instead is a predictable little movie full of stupidly "ethereal" music (a breathy soprano over some kind of Enya-esquire track), a good amount of hugging, smiling, "touching" moments and, all in all, the established shallow emotional tone the American audience has been spoon-fed its entire, confined little life. Ah, and let us not forget a ridiculously, idiotically upbeat ending.The movie is women-in-prison for the US audience who will probably either clutch their children and vow never to set foot in Thailand, or for stupid little monolingual American teenagers who will clutch their own genitals and vow never to go to Thailand. Aside from that, let us of course not discount the reaction of the PC slaves who will be quick to start saying the movie is "racist" (or "xenophobic" or whatever useless non-word is in vogue nowadays) because it presents some non-white country as anything other than noble and angelic.If all you've ever seen in your life is mainstream films from Hollywood--and especially if you have no earthly clue other films do, in fact, exist--this will probably be a riiiiveting experience for you.