Tripfall

Ridiculous implausible heist/ransom caper that I still found some enjoyment from thanks, in no small part, due to the late great John Ritter's sheer charisma. Even in a film as stunted and borderline absurd as this one was, his likability still shines through, here as normal everyman Tom.

Tom goes on vacation with his family hoping to reignite the spark of his dying marriage, if for the kids sake if nothing else. However that gets put on the back-burner when he and his family get abducted by a trio of baddies headed by Eric Roberts in dreads. What follows is entertaining enough ridiculousness.

By the by, and totally unrelated, but I'm starting to do a six-degrees type spin on what films I review so the next one will also star Mr. Roberts

Two very bad guys and a gal hold a family for $1.2 million to be withdrawn from a bank. Father (Ritter) has several chances to contact cops, doesn't, decides to be a hero by himself. He makes several decisions about saving his family that no reasonable person would make. The others watching with me were moaning and saying, "How can he be so stupid?"

Eric Roberts is in full psychopath mode, yet strangely there is only a couple trickles of blood. He and his accomplices seem to be driving around a beach resort for almost the entire film. John Ritter is good in the first part of the movie, but once the family is snatched, he really struggles with the underdeveloped script. Rachel Hunter as his wife doesn't have much to do except look scared. The two kids are just plain annoying. The ending is too convenient, and not to be believed, with Ritter suddenly morphing into the hero type. Eric Robert's performance is worth a look, but do not expect to be enthralled with the overly simplistic plot, and numerous lapses in logic. - MERK

I am a huge fan of thriller movies, and this one was standard, but not great. Eric Roberts seems to always stick to his Low-Budget films, he could do so much better then that. Poor old John Ritter has his good and bad films, this was a good movie but the budget was far to low, which made it a bit less bearable, give it a go, see what you think.

5/10

Are you ready for a sunny California setting? Made in the year 2000, the movie's mood is a happy one at the beginning; and how we love John Ritter. Many times he made us laugh and feel good. Here he pleases again in a drama playing a nice, normal, millionaire dad and husband.

Rachel Hunter added a touch of class to the film with her delightful New Zealand accent and statuesque beauty. We found ourselves on the edge of our seats with excitement as the suspense started early on and never quit. Eric Roberts always wins when acting the bad boy; you will hate him and his small gang. We are glad we saw the DVD and recommend it for 16-Adult.