Nadine Salakov Changing Lanes is about two people who are having difficulties in their lives, they enter each other's lives via a fender bender, one of them refuses to help the other leading into an extreme tit for tat situation throughout the entire movie.Changing Lanes has a unique plot, the main characters "Gavin Banek" (Ben Affleck) and "Doyle Gipson" (Samuel L. Jackson) are perfect for their roles, Director Roger Michell did outstanding work with this flick, and everyone else involved in this movie did a superb job.The film score composed by David Arnold is hip and suits the movie with it's drum and bass mixed with classical style.Changing Lanes doesn't allow you to root for a particular character because the plot is so much more than that. We see events from both points of view and both are likable characters, the motion picture is more on the lines of "what will they do next?" rather than "what character to root for".It's clear that "Gavin" (Affleck) is in more trouble than "Doyle" (Samuel L. Jackson) although "Doyle" is on the verge of losing his children, he is not committing crimes as opposed to "Gavin" - he is on the verge of ending up in jail and he's doing some really dodgy work with his boss/father in law, but by the end he makes the rights out of the wrongs. When you look into the plot more deeply it is highly possible that had the two main characters had not had that crazy feud, they may not have got their lives back on track in the end.There are a few scenes that stand out, one being the scene of "Doyle" beating up these two white men after butting in their conversation because they mentioned a "black kid", at one point in the movie "Doyle"'s mentor tells him that he's "addicted to chaos", this is shown here in the scene with the two white guys, had he not been hooked on chaos and disaster, he would have just minded his own business and ignored the black kid comment or better still leave the bar, he shouldn't be drinking anyway!A very clever and imperative scene is in the courthouse where we see "Gavin" at the same courthouse and at the same time as "Doyle", a fantastic scene that speaks so many words.Overall a great movie.

wandereramor Changing Lanes is fundamentally about two men who do bad things but are trying to do better. The main difference is that one is endorsed by society -- Ben Affleck's wall street banker -- and one isn't -- Samuel L. Jackson's alcoholic deadbeat dad. This difference in their social stations drives them into a conflict that causes both of them to revert to their worst impulses.As much as it offers ordinary revenge thrills, Changing Lanes is notable for recognizing the complexity and inequality of our social structure, which dominates even the most powerful of the characters in the film. Even the most obvious villains have reasons for their actions, and one can see how they're pushed into playing out their social roles. At the same time, it's not entirely deterministic -- there are right things to do, but they're difficult, usually involving hurting someone or giving up on some principle or another.Affleck acquits himself relatively well, although he's still Ben Affleck. Jackson is predictably great, as this is back when he still sometimes cared, and Amanda Peet is fantastic in a brief but memorable role as Affleck's amoral wife. Of course, the film is more than a bit melodramatic, with things escalating to a ridiculous extent over the course of one day, and the attempt at reforming Affleck's character towards the end feels a bit forced. It's still a mainstream Hollywood drama, and never really deviates from that style. But it's better than most such dramas, and is in the end a nice film that's been already forgotten as part of the ebb and flow of popular cinema. That forgetting is kind of justified -- it certainly won't go on anyone's best-ever list, resting as it does in the realm of the merely above-average -- but it's still worth a couple hours of your time.

tieman64 "Sometimes God likes to put two guys in a paper bag and just let 'em rip." - Gavin Banek "Systems, not people, make society happen." - Michael King Roger Michell directs "Changing Lanes". The plot? Samuel L. Jackson plays Doyle Gipson, an African American insurance salesman who's struggling with a divorce, AA meetings, financial problems and much stress. His car collides with Gavin Banek, played by Ben Affleck, who works for a law firm. Gipson is a man of integrity. A man who wants to do right by everyone. Banek, in contrast, is a wealthy shark routinely asked to do morally questionable deeds for his company. The duo's collision thus results in a sort of heated, class conflict. Unfolding over 24 hours, we watch as the couple lock horns, engage in battle, and attempt to ruin each other's lives.Despite some resemblance to "Falling Down", "Changing Lanes" is a refreshingly old fashioned film, feeling like some noir potboiler or race-relations thriller from the 1950s, or perhaps even something Stanley Kramer (vomit) may have directed. It touches upon white entitlement, the psychic scars of disrespect, the dignity and depravity of human beings, and the importance of responsibility and responsible individual actions, but is smart enough to wrap this all up in thriller dynamics. Like most big studio films concerned with the nature of morality (our heroes cycle through temptation, redemption, anger, chaos and reflection), however, things are kept strictly on the level of personal, individual ethics. The systemic issues which make Gipson and Banek's lessons void and unworkable, are ignored.Michell would direct the truly offencive "Morning Glory" some years later.7.9/10 – Worth one viewing.

isaiasvalbuena Don't worry the Spoiler is at the end and I'll warn you.So I wasn't expecting anything , to the matter of fact i was expecting something awful , boring and very commercial , but wait, I was so so Wrong this is a dark clever film , very well acted A surprise for me because if Ben Affleck is in a movie I think twice before I watch it (but I have to recognize lately he has being all right) and Samuel Jackson after snake on a plane I don't know what to expect but they did great.The script is very clever , dark and original the directing is nice nothing you haven't seem before but all properly crafted, the rest of the cast is solid and how could you go wrong with Sydney Pollack , William Hurt ,Tonni Collete ,Richard Jenkins...At the end I recomed this film specially if you catch it by surprise like me give it a change You'll not regret.***SPOILERRRR*** The only think I would have change is the end and I'm not saying is bad the one that the movie have , but it makes it alittle commercial , but at the same time it makes it fair; and that is a contradiction because one of the points of the story is showing that live isn't always fair. So I would have ended the film when they finish the conversation in the Cofee Shop after the day of all the events 11 minutes earlier that will be the Cannes film festival cut :=) the other one you can take it to Hollywood. Anyways a great surprise.WATCH IT IF YOU CAN.