I started watching the movie with little or no expectation but i have to admit i was surprised.Movies not good as this are rated highly and get special mention but i am shocked to see the bad reviews this film has got.This is definitely not your top notch thriller/drama but its definitely one of those which you cant miss .The movie has so much to offer -Looks like we believe in god as per our convenience .The movie doesn't try to preach you or make you believe a thing in a certain way. The storytelling bounces around a bit which I love, it allows you to make assumptions and try to figure everything out before its revealed.The story is fast paced and keep you wondering as to whats next.Watch it you wont be disappointed.

The British guy from the biker show did a nice job here. He didn't make any attempt at a Baton Rouge accent, but they didn't tell you where it was supposed to be, and the character could have been from England for all we knew.But he has a natural screen presence that makes it look effortless. Be prepared to see Liv Tyler without makeup and getting up there in years. It happens to the best of us. She was once a great beauty and of course was made to look depressed here.I like the idea of an average guy working in a non-descript hotel in a nameless mid-sized American town. They had him living with an HIV positive gay roommate. That was to show that as a proud atheist, he has no prejudices. The roommate was actually the most interesting character in the film. He was a gentle and lonely soul, looking for love and faith.The atheist mocks the Hebrew Bible more than Christianity, so be prepared for that if it will offend you. The background stories on the Christian couple are pretty over baked, but I will allow it, because a lot of "born again" types do come from previously fallen backgrounds.In this case we see the atheist thinking very little of adultery and hanky panky at work, so his moral compass is not so admirable. But the Christian guy is the villain ultimately as you might expect from any film, and particularly by, from what I've read, a self-proclaimed atheist.Ultimately, the atheist does see the virtue in self-sacrifice and true love. Maybe we are supposed to see that you don't need God to see the light, or maybe he knew how to think and feel this way because religion and soul had trained him whether he liked it or not.No major violence and very little sex here. If you like dialog and atmosphere, like walks along the Mississippi River, then give it a try, but don't expect great depth or catharsis.

The end was just sad. I would not say this movie shows a discussion of religion or philosophy or theology, more like a portrayal of how people screw up everything when they are not willing to reach out for help, stay open in order to understand, and take ownership of their own behavior. The only person who did that in the movie was Hollis and his life worked out fine. This story started out fine; I enjoyed the actors and, being a Christian myself, have met the psychos that claim to be Christians as an escape from the truth of their own twisted mentalities, such as Joe. The ended just plain sucked, had he been able to let loose of his own false believes and ask for help in the very beginning, all of them could have been saved. They missed saving him by a few minutes since just as he jumped they found Joe and Shana. It appears to me that Gavin has read the Bible and has an understand of what it said Old and New Testament but rejects the restrictions while Joe has picked out what he liked to create a fear structure to keep his own insanity under control. Shana is a cruel uncaring lady who cannot decide what she really wants to do and is using both of these men as she decides how to develop herself. She has purposely never been in control of her own behavior from her past to her present. From "enjoying" the high from drugs, and still looking for a high, as she points out mid movie that she gets a high from church. Her pimp told her what to do, and then her husband took the same roll. She made the picks all along to avoid taking control of herself. Even when she is supposed to start a life alone, she turns over to the one person who is happy and sane in the show, Chris. Chris is the only character in the mix that has a direction for his life and appears to be actually happy. I would have enjoyed the movie if the end were different, if they were able to catch Joe and save Gavin since I am sure Shana would have left and/or cheated on Gavin in the future anyways. So two unstable people that adhere so tightly to their false interpretations that it ruins both of them. Gavin could have seen Joe as a psycho and contacted the police right away instead of feeling his only option due to his own belief system was to jump. In which case, both of their actions showed that they adhered to a system that was concrete, simple, and only existed in themselves.

The film opens from the edge from a ten-story building ledge, as a cop who has just been told of his wife's infidelity attempts to save a man who has decided to jump off the building--that's a good start! The rest follows and fascinates as there are two parallel tales are simultaneously related.One of the marks of this film's fascination is that it can be read in many different ways--essentially a thriller, it is also a story that questions the nature of human love, of our place in the universe, as well as the human relationship to whatever God might be worshiped. It features some outstanding ensemble acting by a quartet of four, each of whom defines a character with both strengths and flaws...rather perversely, one waits out the film to see a possible suicide, and as Hitchcock so often implicates members of the audience as voyeurs, one feels similarly (if willingly) manipulated here.