The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, prohibits a person from being convicted twice for the same offense. In "Double Jeopardy," Libby Parsons (Ashley Judd) has been wrongly convicted of her husband's murder, and when she finds out he's still alive, she believes that she can legally kill him because she has already paid for the crime.
Not to put too fine a point on it, this is bunk. Killing someone in a different place, at a different time, with a different weapon, could not in any way constitute the same offense. Libby's firm tush would be back in prison before she could crack a law book.
Yet despite the absurdity of the central conceit, "Double Jeopardy" isn't a total failure. The plot often borders on the ridiculous, but Libby's adventures are intermittently entertaining.
In her quest to reunite with her son and take revenge on her husband, Libby travels to some stunning vistas. She shares a beautiful house with her husband in the Seattle suburbs, and her journeys take her to the Rocky Mountains and, finally, New Orleans at Mardi Gras. In these disparate locations, Libby finds herself in a variety of extreme situations - some hilarious, some frightening and others downright revolting.
But unbelievable plot devices lessen the film's entertainment value. None of the events before Libby's parole are conveyed realistically. Libby's husband (Bruce Greenwood) fakes his death on a sailboat, somehow smearing blood all over her in her sleep and creating a path to the deck, where he leaves a bloody knife. It would have been easier for the LAPD to frame O.J. Simpson - wait, bad example.
The courtroom proceedings are equally unlikely - Libby is convicted with lightning speed and doesn't even blame her obviously incompetent attorney. Actually, "Double Jeopardy" suffers from a plague of bad lawyers: Libby's cellmate (Roma Maffia) was disbarred after murdering her husband, and her parole officer, Travis Lehman (Tommy Lee Jones) is a disgraced former law professor.
If this is not enough, Libby's ability to get herself into the most ridiculous situations is unsatisfactory for her character. The audience is torn between believing that she's cunning and wondering what she's thinking half of the time. Her scheme of breaking into an elementary school to find information about her son's former nanny is frustratingly idiotic.
Perhaps the writers intended to make her seem stupid. But that would not match her brilliant ruses later on - such as managing to purchase an Armani dress without a cent and snagging her husband in a public arena.
Her character design is questionable. She's certainly determined: Even when it means being chased through sand with a jeep, she keeps going. But her stunts are sometimes inexplicable. For instance, while handcuffed to a car on a ferry, she manages to send two cars over the edge into the water, including the one she's handcuffed to. This scene provides a rather odd mix between slapstick comedy and breathtaking fear.
Yet Judd does a lot to keep "Jeopardy" enjoyable. She imbues Libby with charm despite her occasional goofs and makes her love for her son palpable. As she trudges through the muddy obstacles in front of her, Judd invokes sympathy and the audience is pleased with her successes.
Meanwhile, Jones is a major disappointment, playing a lightweight retread of his most famous character, U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard. As Lehman, Jones undergoes changes - from rigidity to apparent soft-heartedness - but his own personal problems with his family, which were the origin of his distress, are never resolved.
Where do these warring elements - a compelling central character but stock supporting players, an entertaining plight riddled with absurdities - leave "Double Jeopardy?" Not great, not awful, but somewhere in the mediocre middle.
Grade: C+
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