Delayed Reaction: Sommersby

The Pitch: It wasn't the pitch at the time, but I'm going to go ahead and sell it as "A Civil War veteran pulls a Seymour Skinner/Don Draper with an aim for redemption".

How I Came Into It: Luckily, I knew nothing about this. I even avoided the Netflix blurb. I didn't know who was in it or what time period it was set in. There's a certain thrill to being about to say "Is that Richard Gere?" when a movie begins.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) This is a really interesting idea. I've liked it on The Simpsons and Mad Men (or the excellent documentary The Imposter) and it's even more plausible here with the amount of time and the time period. Richard Gere and Jodie Foster are very solid in this and really sell the emotion of the characters.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: I wasn't a huge fan of the angle they chose for this. Sommersby is pretty much a saint. He has no believable darkness left in him and that makes the overall debate kind of boring. As a result, I wasn't nearly as engaged by the trial as I should've been. The movie really does get bonus points for my lack of awareness of it allowing me to be genuinely surprised once or twice.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend