Conviction

By now, everybody knows about the real-life story of Betty Anne Waters, a devoted sister who spent a gruelling 18 years of her life working on her law degree to get her lowlife brother, Kenny, out of jail for a murder she's convinced he didn't commit. Like Oscar contender The Fighter, Conviction is another mainstream drama that shines light on a lower class family while having Hollywood heavyweights like Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell playing white trash dress-up in hopes of getting nominated for an Academy Award. Luckily, even those who honestly believe that The Social Network is worthy of being named "Best Picture" this year can see that Conviction is a high budgeted T.V. movie of the week made for those who are attracted to police procedurals and their spin-offs. Although it's an amazing story, it's difficult to truly feel Betty Anne's (Hilary Swank) struggle, as the film moves too quickly and is too full of Hollywood glamour for anybody to be affected by the events onscreen. Director Tony Goldwyn also makes the risky decision of being attentive of the fact that Kenny (Sam Rockwell) may not be innocent of the murder charges and that does little to make the audience empathize with his character. Although Conviction fails to entertain or grip its audience, it luckily has a few saving graces in Melissa Leo and Juliette Lewis, providing scene stealing, if not award-deserving, small roles in the film. If one finds the double-entendre meaning of the title clever, then this may be the film for them, otherwise it's best to watch mindless television instead. The DVD features an interview with director Tony Goldwyn and the real-life Betty Anne Waters, in which we find out that her brother died six months after he was released from jail. It's a depressing fact conveniently left out of the film.