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Kelly Reilly, meanwhile, might be the weakest link in terms of character as the junkie who meets the divorced Whip in the hospital after an overdose. She sneaks a cigarette with him in the stairwell and moves in with him soon afterward in a romance that doesn't feel entirely believable. But the British actress, doing a solid Southern accent, finds a jittery fragility in the role that creates a tense dynamic opposite Washington's volatile bluster. And the scene in which they meet is a stunner, as they're joined by a cancer patient (a funny and moving James Badge Dale) who shares the wisdom he's achieved as he nears death. Zemeckis finds just the right tone there, but frequently lays it on in a heavy-handed fashion that frustratingly keeps "Flightfrom being a truly great film. This includes a distractingly Scorsese-esque, painfully literal use of rock songs to correspond with the action. (Goodman's character enters to the familiar opening lines of the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil," for example.) And the uplifting coda needlessly spells out the hard-earned lessons that would have been more powerful had they been implied. Still, for the most part, "Flight" manages to achieve the tricky balance of functioning as a serious, adult drama that's also crowd-pleasing. "Flight," a Paramount Pictures release, is rated R for drug and alcohol abuse, language, sexuality/nudity and an intense action sequence. Running time: 135 minutes. Three stars out of four. ___ Motion Picture Association of America rating definition for R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
[Associated
Press;
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