Changing Lanes
directed by Roger Michell
starring Ben Affleck, Samuel L. Jackson, Sydney Pollack

       In Changing Lanes, Samuel L. Jackson and Sydney Pollack play fathers with different goals which collide one day on NYC's FDR Drive.  The impact of their paternity is an underlying theme in the film,  just slightly buried by the cluttered issues of corporate ethics and individual morality.
       Ben Affleck plays Gavin Banek, a young lawyer looking to make partner in his father-in-law's firm.  On his way to probate court for a power of attorney dispute, his car collides with an insurance salesman named Doyle Gibson (Jackson) who also is on his way to court, for a child custody hearing.   They are both late for their respective cases and while Gibson wishes to do the right thing, Banek acts selfishly and flees the accident with the words, "Better luck next time."
       Gibson ends up missing his custody hearing and risks the loss of his wife and children forever, despite his generous purchase of a new house for them as well as his winning struggle with alcoholism.  The decision is also Banek's misfortune, however, when he leaves an important file behind.  Losing the file could mean losing his job and his wife and maybe even prison.  With Gibson now in possession of that file, the two enter a chess game of revenge upon revenge. 
       Moral dilemmas are faced between the characters, neither of whom are particularly bad people, as spite continues to win out over the golden rule.  The screenplay, by Chap Taylor (a former P.A.) with help from Michael Tolkin (The Player), is full of speeches regarding right and wrong in life and law.  It seems that every player gets a soliloquy, including the wasted Toni Collette and William Hurt as a couple of convenience characters.  The speeches are full of redundancy and weak metaphor.
       In the end, only Gibson's monologue about fatherhood, as he sits in a bar contemplating a drink, makes any real sense to what the film is truly about.   Pollack's Delano, as father-in-law to Banek, is a lot like Gibson.  They both want what's best for their children.  Yet Delano's reasons and actions are selfish,  though claiming, "At the end of the day, I do more good than harm. What other standard have I got?"  In comparison to him, despite the maliciously wrong decisions made during the film, Gibson comes off a complete saint.  And it is this see-saw of parentage that causes Banek to oscillate. 
       Changing Lanes could have had a more direct approach with this theme instead of burying it beneath the quest for virtuosity, but it would still have other problems.   Amanda Peet, for instance, is lost in the role of Banek's wife.  The entire scene involving the couple, I had the feeling that they just met.  The cold relationship and performance could have been intentional by director Roger Michell, but it doesn't seem to fit with the dialogue she speaks nor the emotion given by Affleck. 
       Then there is the whole mess of editing by Christopher Tellefsen.  During the two traffic accidents and a scene involving Gibson's eventual arrest, the cuts are quick and confusing.  Also, the intercutting of Banek and Gibson is sloppy and unmotivated, as in the scene between Affleck and Peet where we are occasionally directed towards Gibson's actions while hearing a speech by Peet that has no relation. 
       The few redeeming qualities include the performance by Samuel L. Jackson.  It is one of his best since "Pulp Fiction".  Also great is Dylan Baker as a strange computer hacker who helps Banek with Gibson's descent and Kevin Sussman as an aspiring young lawyer. 
       Changing Lanes, like the current film Panic Room, is a great disappointment in the genre of chess game thrillers.  Both had interesting setups and exciting trailers only to end up with imperspicious results.

Samuel L. Jackson thinks the script is "a little thin".