Gavin Banek (Ben Affleck) is a high power lawyer with a big case. Doyle Gipson (Samuel L. Jackson) is an insurance salesman in AA struggling with his divorce. Their worlds collide when they get into a car accident. Stress for time, Gavin runs off before they could exchange information but he drops an important file. Now Gavin needs Doyle's help to get the file back. Doyle isn't very cooperative since he couldn't get to divorce court and he lost his kids.

These are not likable people. It's dark stuff. It's fill with anger and desperation. It's ugly and it's not a fun watch. Ben Affleck is basically a callous jerk who's losing his moral compass. Jackson is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. One unlikeable character is maybe enough, but two is too much to take. This movie bashes the audience with moral ugliness. It's heavy handed and that's the part that I dislike.

Gavin Banek (Ben Affleck) is a lawyer in a hurry to the court that hits the car of Doyle Gipson (Samuel L. Jackson) in a highway and leaves the scene of the accident without giving a lift to Doyle. He leaves a blank check to pay for the damage and refuses to give a lift to the victim. But he forgets his power of attorney in the scene of accident. Gavin is defending his company against the inheritor of a foundation, who claims that he deceived her grandfather to get the power of attorney and administrate the millions of dollars of the foundation. Doyle is also going to the court to defend himself in a separation process moved by his wife, and because of the twenty minutes lost in the accident, his case is decided by the judge on the behalf of his wife. From this point on, Gavin will start a war against Doyle, trying to retrieve his document. The rage between them will increase along the plot. This movie is great, although the moralist end of the story does not fit to the profile of the character of Ben Affleck. The acting of the cast and the direction are sharp and keep the attention of the viewer. Attention to the dialog of Ben's wife Cynthia Banek (Amanda Peet) with him in the restaurant: it is one of the most cynical I have ever seen. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Fora de Controle" ("Out of Control")

Here's a totally offbeat film, about as non-mainstream as you could expect despite the presence of two A-listers in the dual leading roles. It's a character study of motivation and the forces which drive sane people to commit insane and unpleasant acts. It helps greatly that the leads are played with such skill and charisma as actors Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Affleck can muster. Jackson is as intense as ever, but also unusually heart-warming in the emotional moments; Affleck puts in his best performance to date here as the vain but weak young lawyer, and the result is highly effective. The scenes in which the leads share screen time are very effective.

The story is slow-paced but this works in the film's favour, building up a realistic picture of life in New York and carefully developing the characters along the way. There are many twists and surprises in the cat-and-mouse game played out between the two men, and it's never quite possible to predict the outcome for this is an edgy, sometimes unsettling movie. In the end things do get a bit preachy and syrupy, but this doesn't matter, because the film's message is a strong one and the dialogue is not spoon-fed to the audience, a failing of so many modern films. Instead this is a film that doesn't underestimate the viewer, that is worth a look thanks to being so unconventional and intelligently-written and made.