MBunge While She Was Out has an effective beginning, a provocative ending and no idea at all how to get from one to the other. The result is a film that shows a lot of promise, right up until in goes down in flames in a laughably overwritten scene where this cinematic cow vomits up the cud on which it's been silently chewing. It's almost like writer/director Susan Montford got so caught up in the nuts and bolts of making a woman-in-peril thriller, she forgot about the emotional and thematic subtext of her own story and then tried to cram it all in at once.Della Myers (Kim Basinger) is a beautiful but aging woman who lives in a big house in a gated community with her twin children, Terri and Tammy (Luke and Erika-Shaye Gair), and her abusive dick of a husband, Kenneth (Craig Sheffer). On Christmas Eve, Della has to bop over to the local mall for wrapping paper and is caught up in a nightmare. She gets into a confrontation with a multi-ethnic foursome of young punks, who end up accidentally shooting a mall cop right in front of Della. She tries to flee and the punks chase her into an unfinished housing development where Della has to fight for her life, armed only with her will and the contents of a red toolbox.The best part of While She Was Out is how realistically constructed and well executed is the chase and conflict between Della and the four punks. Sadly, that's probably not the aspect of this movie writer/director Montford hoped would be the most successful, but it is. Usually these kind of scenarios are fairly illogical and are played exclusively for visceral excitement with none of the action genuinely making much sense. Here, Montford very smartly sets up and follows through the location, movement and behavior of the characters. How the punks search for and chase after Della; how she hides and gets away; the moments when they come into violent contact; it all shifts and fits together like a Rubix Cube. It's all so believable it gives While She Was Out a genuine sense of meaning that most thrillers lack and try to compensate for with narrative manipulation and various forms of histrionics.But just as Montford is so deft at manipulating the mechanical levers of the plot, she is equally inept at conveying the purpose of it all. This is supposed to be a tale of transformation, how a woman in crisis moves from weakness to strength. Unfortunately, that transformation is absent. We never really see Della change through crisis. There are no moments of insight into her character and how it is being affected by such traumatic circumstances. Della simply becomes a MacGyver-like killing machine with no justification. Then at the end, when Montford tries to stick in all of the character development that should have been spread out throughout the movie, it comes so fast and furious that it's more comedic than dramatic. It's like somebody walking a marathon suddenly starting to sprint the last 100 yards to beat the other walkers to the finish line.It's too bad that Montford bollixes it up, because the concept of While She Was Out is quite strong and sharp. The intended transformation of Della is meant to be mirrored by the revelation of the young punks threatening her as being ordinary, unthreatening and a bit hapless. It's a clever dramatic reversal, like a Friday the 13th movie where the teenage camp counselors try to track down and murder Jason Voorhees. This concept is just left fallow, though, while Montford seemingly loses herself in the mundane details.This is one of those films that fails without actually being all that horrible. I can recommend it, but only with very serious caveats.

proletinchen I recently came across one of Lukas Haas movies and liked it very much. So I decided to look up what else he did. Let me tell you something- he either makes a very good movie, or a very bad one. This one is bad. Like, beyond bad. It is not scary, it is so unbelievable it hurts, the "action" is beyond pathetic. The so called love scene is embarrassing (embarassing because you must watch two very good actors do very stupid dialog, not to mention there is none, like 0 attraction between them.)Not that its the actors fault in any way. They did their best with what they've got - nothing unfortunately. The director should have thought it over -its really really THAT bad. Please, don't waste your time. This said, Kim Basenger is still a unique actress to me and I would watch her next movie.

rashmitharao While there are many who look upon the movie as a hackneyed thriller with a poor ending, I see it as a strong statement on domestic violence, specifically, Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). The flick is rife with symbolism but I think that the most emphasized one is the parallel drawn between the meaningless violence Della (the central character) is subjected to by some mindless, psychopathic, freakish strangers on the streets while she was out and the meaningless abuse that Della's own husband subjects her to while she is at home. The few hours that she is out fighting against the freaks to save her life, to get back to her home, help build up the attitude in her to not submit to a similar situation at home. And, we see that in the end, Della brings her life back into her control, by putting an end to the criminals...both outside her home and inside. So, I liked the script for this symbolism. Kim Basinger's performance is awesome as usual.

bababear I don't often give one star reviews, but the computer won't let me do negative numbers.The opening titles tell us we're in deep water already. Although this is a low budget exploitation film, there are 17 producers credited. No. No.At the beginning of the story abusive husband Kenneth comes home to his family in an upscale gated community. The house is a pigsty. His wife, Della (Kim Basinger) has let the children run amok all day.OK. We're already in deep water. Ms. Basinger was 55 years old when the film came out. Uh, are these her children or grandchildren? It's Christmas Eve. Della drives to the mall, a lengthy scene that could have been cut. To bludgeon home the idea of eeeeeeevil male aggression rampant in the universe she drives past football players in full uniform playing in pouring rain on Christmas Eve. Sure. For a bonus she sees a vehicle with a slaughtered deer tied to it.We get some actual suspense in the driving scenes, though. It's raining and traffic is bad. First we see Della try to drive and smoke at the same time. Then later Della tries to drive and talk on her cell phone at the same time, at one point turning completely around to check the cluttered back seat for the charger for the phone.She wanders the mall, sees an old friend from college, tries to buy stuff but her credit card is declined- gosh, maybe her husband is grumpy because he's going broke, but that's too complicated for the script to follow.In the parking lot she runs afoul of the most ludicrous gang in the history of films. One White boy (Lukas Hass watching his career go down the toilet), one Black, one Asian, and one Hispanic. Imagine a company of Up with People gone to the bad and you'll have the idea.Although they have a gun she gives them attitude. A mall cop comes to investigate the ruckus and they shoot him in the head, firing more than once. The parking lot is crowded as can be, people everywhere, and nobody notices.Della escapes in her car and rather than choosing a police station or well lighted safe area, she drives to a construction site, where she kills all four bad boys one at a time with simply the tools (literally) at hand.MAJOR spoiler ahead.She drives back home. The car poops out so she walks through the pouring rain. Checks on the children, goes downstairs, and when her husband petulantly asks what she got him at the mall shows him the gun and shoots him at point blank range.The experience with the four punks was supposed to result in personal empowerment for Della. Instead we know that her children will probably spend Christmas in foster care or a group home, because the State will collect them while she answers to murder one charges. The four punks can be classified as justifiable homicide in self defense. The husband, different story.I'm so glad I saw this on cable. If I'd seen it in a theater (did it get any release?) I'd have been furious. As is, I'm just sad seeing talents like Ms. Basinger and Mr. Haas waste themselves on garbage like this.One very good thing, though. This was written and directed by Susan Montford. Ms. Montford has not gotten another writing or directing credit since passing this turd. There is justice in the world.