I’m going to offer you a bit of free advice. Take what you like …

If you avoid seeing one movie in 2006, make it Derailed. Whatever it takes, don’t see this film. Don’t succumb to the alluring cast, which includes Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston. Don’t be drawn in by the plot, which is really as hard to swallow as barbed wire coated in cough syrup. If you see it in a video store or on netflix, slam your hand in a drawer to ease the temptation to rent it. If you want to see violence for its own sake, at least have some fun doing so, and see Kung Fu Hustle instead. At least it won’t leave you feeling the need for a cold shower to snap you back into reality.

Update: To be honest, I left the room about half way through. The movie was making me very anxious. In retrospect, I probably would have actually liked it if I’d been watching it home alone, where my viewing habits are much different. I like to watch a movie in two or three sittings, over a few evenings, along with other activites. Derailed is so intense, and the protagonist is such an unbelievable victim, that I got overwhelmed that I wanted to line up the screenwriter, director and producer/s, and mow them down with a studio golf cart.