FrankenScript :: Lee Gabel's Screenwriting Journal/Blog

After seeing Jimmy Neutron the previous day, there’s no comparison. However, the story here is good and it’s what saves this film. The visuals pull this film down. It looks cheap and to be fair, this film was made with ten million dollars less than Jimmy Neutron. Visuals suffer with smaller and smaller budgets. If [...]

Even though this is inspired by true events, the story is still predictable and uninspired. People get trapped, people die getting out. I really dislike it when the story sets up a rule that can’t be broken, shows repeatedly why it can’t be broken (dead characters), then breaks it just to move the story forward [...]

Other than this story centering on Hasidic Jews, there’s not much else that makes this film different than any other drug smuggling story. And the Jewish focus lacks the ability to make this film different enough. It interesting that this was based on a true story, but the viewer isn’t going to care if the [...]

I’m looking for something positive to say, and it’s a little difficult. For the most part this film is pretty average. The main character is so unlikeable that it’s hard to want to see her change, or even care if she does. But you know it’s going to happen and she’ll get a guy and [...]

Here’s a story about good cops and bad cops. It feels like many films that have come before. The same but different, but in this case, not different enough. We know almost from the outset who is good and who is bad. This is a smart move in that it builds suspense as things slowly [...]

This film slowly eats away at you as you learn more and more. Then it takes a right turn off the bridge, over the guardrail and into murky waters. Without giving too much away, complications arise without explanation. The last 30 minutes don’t make a whole lot of sense, and it made me angry. I [...]