The first movie for the newly formed Weinstein Company, Derailed offers one of the better Hollywood twists since Fight Club but is wounded by a trigger-happy ending. With qualities both positive and negative, Derailed, directed by Mikael Hafstrom, doesn’t provide a definite forecast for the Weinstein brothers’ future.

When Charles Schine (Clive Owen), an advertising executive with a Type-1 Diabetic daughter, meets Lucinda Harr is (Jennifer Aniston), a business executive who selflessly pays his $9 train fare after he forgets his cash at home, Schine sees an opportunity his home-life can no longer offer: non-familial pleasure. However, when this extra-curricular romance leads to a seedy hotel room, the couple faces Philippe Laroche (Vincent Cassel), who assaults and robs them and sexually abuses Harris. Her refusal to go to the police in order to protect her own marriage leads Laroche to stalk and bribe the pair. But only after Laroche swindles Schine out of the money he saved to keep his daughter healthy does the film takes a dramatic turn, and Schine begins to realize the depth and gravity of his affair.

Hafstrom’s first attempt at an English-language feature proved significantly unsteady. The film’s slow uptake, far too reminiscent of the box-office failure Random Hearts, combined with its constant mood swings from dialogue-based drama to action-packed thriller, create a seemingly directionless film.

Fortunately for the Weinstein brothers, the plot twist in Stuart Beattie’s adaptation of the James Siegel novel offers significant relief – at least enough to sustain an audience for its moderate 106-minute runtime. And while Cassel’s overacting seems cartoonish at times, Owen was solid and Aniston’s post-Pitt dramatic debut was largely seamless.

Nonetheless, the strong points in Derailed cannot supersede the weak, leaving you with another November showing that’s a bit off track.

– Jon Greenberg