20 Years after being cleared in the death of his mistress, Judge Rusty Sabich (Bill Pullman; Torchwood: Miracle Day) is in the hot seat again after he is accused of killing his wife (Marcia Gay Harden; Whip It). Tommy Molto (Richard Schiff; Jurassic Park: The Lost World), the man who tried Sabich all those years ago, is attempting to bring Sabich down with the help of a hot under the collar understudy named Jimmy Brand (Tahmoh Penikett; Man of Steel). Is the judge guilty and if so can it be proven? Also stars Alfred Molina (An Education), Callard Harris (Sons of Anarchy), and Mariano Klaveno (True Blood).

Is Innocent worth your time? The movie does have a good story, one that will have you guessing the entire time, and nine times out of ten your going to be wrong. I can appreciate a smart story that keeps you on your toes. However, the movie is brought down a considerable degree due to the horrific acting by its star Bill Pullman, who plays it creepy and stiff, as well as Tahmoh Penikett who plays it too over the top. Fortunately background veterans like Marcia Gay Harden and Richard Schiff make it worthwhile, when they get screen time, and Mariano Klaveno does a good job as well.

I’ll be honest and say that I have never really been too great a Bill Pullman fan. I absolutely loved him in Zero Effect and thought his portrayal as a struggling vineyard owner in Bottle Shock was commendable, but the man has about as much enthusiasm for his character work as Luke Wilson. Like always Pullman sounds very read and his facial tics in the movie do little but add to the creep factor that he brings to this character. I had a hard time taking him seriously as either a semi-devoted husband, devoted father, or individual. Then you have Tahmoh Penikett whose every over reaction sounds just as read. I’m not sure if its because he’s Canadian and is trying to hard to make every word sound as American as possible, according to some poorly acted soap opera, or if this is his caliber of acting. Whatever the issue is Penikett tries too hard and simply fails at creating a character that you can take seriously. Finally we come to Callard Harris. The man is almost non-existent in the movie and when you do see him on the screen his performance is pretty generic.

Marcia Gay Harden plays Sabich’s wife, a woman who suffers from bouts of depression and other mental illnesses. She really plays the part well going from loving and caring wife to complete schizo. It’s easy to feel sympathy for her but also to see how her actions could force Sabich to do some of the things that he does in the movie. Richard Schiff, as always, does a fine job of portraying his character as a guy whose so close to moving up the ladder and that doesn’t want anything to do with Sabich, for obvious political reasons, but also a guy whose driven but fair. His character is completely fleshed out and stays focused throughout the entire movie. Finally we have Mariano Klaveno. Really her part could have gone to just about any starving actress out there but she plays the part well. There’s never a moment where your kind of thinking that the role is the same old, same old type. She gives it some flare and fleshes it out enough that when the story is all tied up her character still matters.  

Again, the story is fantastic. Mystery Movie Night indeed, but the casting job is not so fantastic. While it does suffer its something that can be stomached for the sake of moving forward with the film. When its over your still going to have your mind blown and you’ll definitely have no regrets about spending the hour and twenty plus minutes to watch it. Unfortunately for the sake of filling in the blanks your more then likely going to refer to the character as simply Judge Sabich rather then acknowledge Bill Pullman had anything to do with the part. As always final judgment is yours. Enjoy.