Undescribable Perfection

Absolutely Fantastic

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Generally speaking I don't bother with movies that are released straight to DVD. The general standard is poor. But "Beeper" is the exception that proves the rule. Literally crammed with suspense, and produced on a lavish budget in stunning locations, "Beeper" is a first class thriller, featuring the most exciting chase sequence I've ever seen in a movie. Not only that, but the writer has also provided his players with solid characterizations and abrasive dialogue to match. Keitel and Grover have all the best lines and serve them up powerfully. Like many modern actors, Joey Lauren Adams has a tendency to mumble, but in this case it matches her lone-woman-in-a-man's-world. Director Jack Sholder has done wonders with his expansive budget, and the movie is most excitingly paced by film editor, Andy Horvitch.

BEEPER is the product of those films that deal with kidnapping of a child with the only connection with the perpetrators being by cell phone or other mechanical devices supposedly to enhance the tension of identifying the bad guy. By now the story is so used and tired that it takes a spectacular gimmick to make it fly. BEEPER remains grounded.Dr. Richard Avery (Ed Quinn, known to only those who watch TV) flies to India with his young son (he is a widower) to give a lecture at a worldwide medical conference. In the audience the son Sam (Stefan Djordjevic) disappears and the good doctor notices too late, beginning a long series of chases to find Sam. Avery encounters Sr. Inspector Vijay Kumar (Gulshan Grover), whose specialty is drug dealing problems, and Inspector Julia Hyde (Joey Lauren Adams), whose specialty is kidnapping. But Avery is informed that he is to follow instructions given through a beeper and to avoid the police. Avery finds his only source of information is through Zolo (Harvey Keitel), a drug lord in Delhi who has special interests in fulfilling the ransom: cash for opium. After an endless car chase through the streets and markets of Delhi the truth about who is the real kidnapper is revealed...and the movie glides to a bumpy end.Seeing India as a backdrop for an intrigue film is promising but visually this viewer gets the feeling that much of the footage is actually from a can rather than being on set. The acting ranges from fair to really awful and the script by Michael Cordell and Gregory Gieras is dreary. Made in 2002 and just released on DVD it is not a secret why the movie didn't make it in the theaters. Even the usually reliable Keitel can't save this one. Grady Harp

Beeper is simply put, a mediocre movie. It places our SWM hero in a strange and exotic society and from there it tries to develop a thriller, but failing on multiple levels. No exciting pictures of Indian society, no logic in many of the actions, police work is horrible, sets are awful - you get to see some footage of a Boeing 747 the main characters are supposed to fly, but inside it looks like in the 50's.And what the heck is Keitel doing in this movie? Did he owe Jack Sholder a favor? Was desperate for some money? Got a free trip to India? Anyway, even he can't save this one. Oh yes, and look for the car chase...in The Hidden, Sholder got to play with Ferraris, here he works his car chase-skills on some antiqued cabs. Cheap, but entertaining. Still, go find The Hidden, it's much much better.

...about what exactly it takes for a film to get made. This may be the worst picture I've ever seen. If you like poor acting, especially poor child acting, wait for this to make its TBS world premiere and set your VCR's. The film quality was horrendous as well. I kept thinking to myself, "So, when's Shannon Tweed's character gonna be introduced?" If you've got 6 bucks in your pocket, treat yourself to a good sandwich and count the days 'til that TBS premiere. I feel sorry for Harvey and Joey Lauren Adams, because I think they're solid actors. But even they couldn't save this from sinking into a bottomless pit. Just my opinion.