SHORT TIME. Directed by Gregg Champion; written by John Blumenthal and Michael Berry; produced by Todd Black for Twentieth Century Fox. Starring Dabney Colemen, Matt Frewer and Teri Garr. Rated PG-13.
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Short Time is a short movie that feels a lot longer while you're watching it. It can't decide whether to be an irreverent comedy or a tearjerker, so, not too surprisingly, it fails at both.
Since Coleman (and Frewer) can be such funny guys, you might guess that the comedic side of the movie might fare better than the serious. But because of its relentlessly sluggish pacing, most of the potential comedy is lost.
The movie has an interesting premise. Burt (Coleman) is just a week away from retirement from the police force. Always a cautious man, he becomes practically fanatical about prudence now. Then, through a mix-up at the doctor's he is told he has only a couple of weeks to live.
This knowledge is liberating. His suppressed (or ignored) feelings for his ex-wife (Garr), son (Kaj-Erik Eriksen) and partner (Frewer) come bubbling to the surface. In addition, he decides the best thing he can do for his family is to die in the line of duty, thereby giving them his hefty life insurance benefits.
Predictably, he becomes a hero as he tries (unsuccessfully) to cash in. Some of the situations are somewhat humorous, such as a car chase that's incredibly destructive of property, but not of human life. But others just can't be milked for laughs, like when Burt talks an estranged husband out of blowing up a convenience store.
Coleman does a surprisngly good job with the serious scenes, but he's always better when he's being funny. And Short Time's script just won't let him. The same goes for Frewer, who seems more lethargic than laid back. Garr plays the same old part here, Wife of Protagonist. It's probably a very lucrative career for her, but it couldn't possibly be very challenging.
Short Time might be worth a giggle or two as a rental video in a few months. But I wouldn't put out any more effort, or money, than that to see it.
May 16, 1990