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Average User Score: 7 (14 sources)

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drek2

-1

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Brokedown Palace follows in the path of "Return to Paradise" as its main focus is 3rd world law and punishment. The movie stars Claire Danes (Alice) and a young Kate Beckinsale (Darleen) who you probably are more familiar with, but...
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Brokedown Palace follows in the path of "Return to Paradise" as its main focus is 3rd world law and punishment. The movie stars Claire Danes (Alice) and a young Kate Beckinsale (Darleen) who you probably are more familiar with, but Claire's performance definitely shines more. It starts off with the two young friends going on a vacation after graduation, they end up in Thailand. After a few nights and a little mischief that comes back to haunt them they meet Nick, an American who just wants to be friends. A few quick days later the two girls are found with Heroin on them and sentenced to 30 years each in a all girls Thai prison. I found this movie very entertaining as it shows the risk of traveling to 3rd world countries, but also fails to show the good sides too of countries like Thailand. While the girls are in prison they try many different ways of getting out, legally and illegally with no success. The strong friendship they once had was beginning to fade - which inst good when you only have each other - and will keep you wondering what will happen all the way until the end. The ending, like Return to paradise, is "Heavy" and very good. Personally I really liked this movie even if it is a chick flick.

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Posted jul 5, 2008 3:40 pm pt

telvisnostic

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Great movie that saw some good acting from these 2 young ladies (when the movie was made anyway).

The innocence seen on their faces and coming out their mouth is done really well.

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Posted jun 12, 2008 2:18 pm pt

alichino

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The acting in this movie is exceptional. Claire Danes and Kate Beckinsale, play their innocence like it was still written on their faces, as the story unfolds they manage to grow up significantly. You feel their passion, their pain. And my hope...
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The acting in this movie is exceptional. Claire Danes and Kate Beckinsale, play their innocence like it was still written on their faces, as the story unfolds they manage to grow up significantly. You feel their passion, their pain. And my hope of all hopes was that they really were falsely accused and that one, or both of them, is not lying. Even Bill Pullman, whom has a stiff sort of stoic approach to acting, manages to pull off a slightly interesting take on his seemingly trivial character. There is sense of hope and ardor in him that wants to do the right thing. So much so that even though I knew it had to end in a fashion like it did, I wanted desperately for it to be fairy tale like.
The plot was excellent.
Some of the secondary acting was over done and some of the prison scenes were a bit useless and designed as time filler to get us to the end, but other than that it was a very good movie, highly recommended.
Side note: the band Plum has a song in this movie that I absolutely adore. Makes me weeping when I hear it and it was used very well (at the end).

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Posted may 21, 2007 1:10 am pt

hoffman9102

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A suspensful drama about two American teen girls falsely accused of drug smuggling in Bangkok. The prison life takes it's toll on their life long friendship, at a time when they need it the most. I felt for Alice and Darlene, a series of bad...
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A suspensful drama about two American teen girls falsely accused of drug smuggling in Bangkok. The prison life takes it's toll on their life long friendship, at a time when they need it the most. I felt for Alice and Darlene, a series of bad decisions changed their paths in life forever.

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Posted jan 26, 2007 1:36 am pt

• [+] Seattle Post-Intelligencer
  
  75
  Brokedown Palace does have some plot implausibilities but Kaplan, manages to turn some hashed story lines into something substantial and emotionally affecting.

  by Paula Nechak | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Sun-Times
  
  75
  The heart of the film is in the performances of Danes and Beckinsale after they're sent to prison.

  by Roger Ebert | Read Full Review »
• [+] The New York Times
  
  70
  Brokedown Palace is good enough so that you wish it were better.

  by Stephen Holden | Read Full Review »
• [+] Newsweek
  
  70
  The plotting could use some finessing, but fine acting makes this film worthwhile.

  by Laura Shin | Read Full Review »
• [+] Variety
  
  70
  It's close to a no-win situation dramatically, culturally and politically, and Kaplan deals with it plausibly enough by concentrating on the performances and the interior conflicts they reveal.

  by Todd McCarthy | Read Full Review »
• [+] Entertainment Weekly
  
  67
  It's strangely enjoyable to see her(Danes) and Beckinsale busted on a bogus heroin-smuggling rap and thrown in the slammer with bad 'dos and no makeup.

  by Joshua Rich | Read Full Review »
• [+] Washington Post
  
  60
  This is not a fantastic movie. But there's more to it than just an MTV-slickified "Midnight Express" starring two young, photogenic stars.

  by Desson Thomson | Read Full Review »
• [+] TV Guide
  
  50
  Overall it's a colorful, diverting cautionary tale.

  by Maitland McDonagh | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Tribune
  
  50
  The movie, directed by veteran Jonathan Kaplan, has enough in common with such American-in-foreign-jail movies as "Midnight Express" and the recent "Return to Paradise" to make you wonder why it ever got made.

  by Barbara Shulgasser | Read Full Review »
• [+] The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  
  50
  This is the kind of picture that is faux subtle when it should be bold, and really ham-handed when it should be delicate.

  by Rick Groen | Read Full Review »
• [+] Salon.com
  
  50
  The penalties for drug trafficking in Thailand are very, very stiff. If there were any justice in the world, the penalties for saddling fine actors with terrible dialogue would be even stiffer.

  by Stephanie Zacharek | Read Full Review »
• [+] San Francisco Examiner
  
  50
  Its finest moments come in sequences such as Alice and Darlene's prison break and the girls' final wrenching plea for freedom.

  by Wesley Morris | Read Full Review »
• [+] ReelViews
  
  50
  We're stuck with contrived plot contortions, dull interpersonal interaction, and unconvincing dialogue.

  by James Berardinelli | Read Full Review »
• [+] San Francisco Chronicle
  
  50
  The specifics of their predicament are well handled -- being thrown in a Third World prison may be every tourist's nightmare -- even if the movie eventually goes soft and squishy.

  by Bob Graham | Read Full Review »
• [+] Los Angeles Times
  
  40
  Just another lurid, contrived, xenophobic tale about Americans trapped in hideous foreign prisons.

  by Kevin Thomas | Read Full Review »