Parents' Guide to

Derailed

By Cynthia Fuchs, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 18+

Unimaginative, dumb thriller is too much for kids.

Movie R 2005 110 minutes
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What's the Story?

Charles (Clive Owen) and his wife Deanna (Melissa George) share a dispassionate partnership looking after their diabetic, occasionally near-death daughter Amy (Addison Timlin). Charles' derailment begins on the commuter train he takes to work, where he meets Lucinda (Jennifer Aniston). Though he knows better, Charles sets up a lunch, they lie to their spouses, and get in a cab. When they meet at a seedy hotel, a thug named LaRoche (Vincent Cassel) busts in their room with a gun, goes through their wallets, beats Chuck, and looks about to rape Lucinda as Charles goes unconscious. Afterwards, Lucinda makes Charles promise not to tell the cops or his wife. He agrees, feeling guilty about the rape. Within hours, LaRoche calls with a blackmail demand. When La Roche asks for still more money, Charles asks ex-con Winston (RZA) to help.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say Not yet rated
Kids say (3):

DERAILED is an unimaginative, ridiculously plotted thriller that begins with a long setup, then devolves even more feebly into silly-plotting. A scheme gone wrong leads to the introduction of a couple of other black guys, dogged and painfully named Detective Church (Giancarlo Esposito), who also happens to be related to Winston, and LaRoche's second, Dexter (Xzibit).

Charles finds his inner thug after he's made what appears to be a series of profoundly wrong decisions. His sudden ingenuity and action heroics hardly make up for the rest of his bad judgment, or the film's ancient moralizing (i.e., adultery is bad).

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the persistent costs of cheating, the ugliness of lying and blackmailing. How do the villains embody threats to the suburban ideal? How does the commuter train/the city represent a site of temptation?

Movie Details

  • In theaters: November 11, 2005
  • On DVD or streaming: March 21, 2006
  • Cast: Clive Owen, Jennifer Aniston, RZA
  • Director: Mikael Hafstrom
  • Inclusion Information: Black actors
  • Studio: Weinstein Co.
  • Genre: Drama
  • Run time: 110 minutes
  • MPAA rating: R
  • MPAA explanation: strong disturbing violence, language and some sexuality.
  • Last updated: February 26, 2023

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