A father fights for the love of his daughter and grandson, after serving twelve years in prison.
Chuck says:
There’s a one-step-forward, two-steps back quality to Catherine Hardwicke’s “Prisoner’s Daughter,” a film featuring a more than capable cast in conflict with a predictable plot. While the script by Mark Bacci contains more than its fair share of pithy dialogue, it’s hobbled by its lock-step adherence to the beats of its redemption tale. However, the relatability of its characters and their respective plights provide enough of a hook to keep us engaged in their journeys, though we know exactly how they will end.
Suffering from terminal cancer, Max (Brian Cox), a convict serving a long stretch has resigned himself to dying behind bars. However, the warden, being sympathetic to his situation and appreciative of his efforts in helping other prisoners, arranges for him to spend the rest of his days on the outside under house arrest. The only catch is, he must find someone to take him in and the only relative he has is his daughter Maxine (Kate Beckinsale), who he hasn’t spoken to in 12 years.
To say that she’s less than thrilled to hear from her old man from out of the blue is an understatement. Resentful over having been left alone to deal with her alcoholic mother, Maxine’s anger towards her father is all-consuming. However, a series of her own bad decisions have put her between a rock and a hard place. Her ex-husband is a drug addict who gives her no financial support yet hectors her to allow him to see their12 year-old son Ezra (Christopher Convery). The boy in turn is dealing with his own problems, as he’s being bullied at school, his epilepsy providing his tormentors an opportunity to abuse him.
Obviously, Max is going to enter the lives of his estranged daughter and the grandson he’s never met; being in financial peril, Maxine allows him to live with them, on the condition it be as a tenant, his savings to be used to help keep them all afloat. Of course, her keeping him at arm’s distance becomes an exercise in futility once Ezra starts asking questions about the “uncle” who’s come to live with them, soon figuring out this is the grandfather he was told was dead.
Again, there are no surprises here but the sincerity of the three principals proves engaging and results in more than a few effective scenes. The biggest surprise is Convery, who manages to be as convincing as the two screen veterans he shares the screen with. There’s an intelligence behind his performance that’s refreshing, and he proves adept at both quiet drama and deft humor. There’s not a cloying moment in the film and that is perhaps Hardwicke’s greatest contribution, as she maintains a consistency of tone, avoiding overwrought moments, of which there could have been plenty.
Still and all, she can’t stick the landing, despite the fine efforts of her cast. Hats off to Bacci for penning such lines as “I don’t have any room left in my heart to make you feel better,” and “We’re blood, not family.” Shame on him for the labored third act he saddles Hardwicke and company with, one that cribs shamelessly from Clint Eastwood’s “Gran Torino” and forces Beckinsale to deliver an ill-conceived denouement. It baffles me as to why so many screenwriters fail to deliver satisfactory endings. In addition to the bloat contained in so many modern screenplays, the fact that so many fall apart in the third act is inexplicable and avoidable. Unlike its protagonist, “Daughter” fails to earn our gratitude or respect, limping towards a conclusion that isn’t worthy of its characters, cast or viewers.
2 1/2 Stars
