College English professor Dexter Cornell (Dennis Quaid) stumbles out of the rain into a police station claiming that he has been murdered. Once upon a time, he was a promising writer. His friend Hal Petersham (Daniel Stern) is desperate to publish in the tough Publish or Perish environment. Nick Lang (Robert Knepper) is one of his best students. He is divorcing his wife Gail (Jane Kaczmarek). Lang crashes into his office window falling to his death in an apparent suicide. At a bar, he runs into adoring student Sydney Fuller (Meg Ryan). He wakes up the next morning in her dorm room with a hangover. He goes to the clinic where he's told that he's been poisoned with a maximum of 48 hours to live.
The original has perhaps the best noir opening ever. The fact that this movie opens with a black and white redux shows respect for that iconic scene. At least, we do not have a Psycho situation here. It's a completely different story and it's better for it. Even the original's story isn't top notch. This one has intriguing characters. It has bits of neo-noir style. It does suffer in the shadows of the original. It can never exceed it no matter how great it could be and I wouldn't call this great. At most, it's a good homage to the original.
The original has perhaps the best noir opening ever. The fact that this movie opens with a black and white redux shows respect for that iconic scene. At least, we do not have a Psycho situation here. It's a completely different story and it's better for it. Even the original's story isn't top notch. This one has intriguing characters. It has bits of neo-noir style. It does suffer in the shadows of the original. It can never exceed it no matter how great it could be and I wouldn't call this great. At most, it's a good homage to the original.