MOVIE REVIEW : Even a Strong Villain Can’t Save Weak ‘Benefit’

Anyone can play a hero; all it takes is billing. But playing a really convincing villain? That’s the acting job that separates the movie men from the boys.

In “Benefit of the Doubt” (selected theaters), Donald Sutherland gets a chance at a classy, mean high-melodrama heavy: a killer-father, a Jekyll-Hyde good guy/maniac who alternates between menacingly restrained niceness and nicely unrestrained menace.

Sutherland makes the most of this juicy part: paroled wife-killer Frank Braswell, who returns to his hometown to woo his daughter and grandson, and insinuate himself back into their lives. And it’s a good thing the star is cooking, because “Benefit” itself is erratic and mostly weak. Sutherland’s Braswell is the sort of star turn that might redeem a movie, if it were capable of redemption. But, like killer Frank, this film isn’t.

It’s the sort of psychological thriller someone might dream up after a steady diet of made-for-TV movies and airline bestsellers. Except for Sutherland’s performance, it has no resonance or depth. The movie is set in Sedona, Ariz., but the whole town seems generic anyway: chain-movie-mall Middle America. The characters themselves--feisty ma, adventurous kid, raffish boyfriend, paterfamilias sheriff, exotic jeweler, avuncular psychiatrist--are generic, too. After a while, it seems a little chilling that Frank is the only one with any personality or surprises. Do modern scriptwriters only exert themselves when trying to confront evil?

Fortunately, Sutherland has exactly the right equipment for his role. With his hulking, imposing frame, his pale, watery, yearning eyes, that twisting half-goofy smile and that peculiar almost sinister lisp, he makes Braswell a convincing monster, even an appealing one. He exudes a murderous friendliness. There’s only one moment in “Benefit,” where you feel the actor isn’t giving enough: a late tantrum scene that seems too contained, impacted.

Around him, the rest of the cast seem stranded. As confused daughter Karen, befuddled perhaps by the movie’s flashbacks, Amy Irving is brittle, rather than tough. As Sheriff Calhoun, a stick lawman, Graham Greene doesn’t get to exploit the wonderful comic/sardonic vein he used in “Clearcut” or “Thunderheart.”

Jonathan Heap, the young director making his feature debut with “Benefit of the Doubt” (MPAA-rated R for violence, sexuality and language), deserves full credit for helping Sutherland steal the show and for staging a slam-bang, picturesque Lake Powell chase climax. But, in the end, powerful villains need strong or likable antagonists. Evil has to feed on good--or, at least on the illusion of good. In “Benefit of the Doubt,” Sutherland’s Frank is a maniac without a country, a Devil trapped in the Purgatory of banality.

‘Benefit of the Doubt’

Donald Sutherland: Frank Braswell

Amy Irving: Karen Braswell

Rider Strong: Pete Braswell

Graham Greene: Calhoun

A Miramax Films/CineVox Entertainment presentation of a Monument Pictures production. Director Jonathan Heap. Producers Michael Spielberg, Brad M. Gilbert. Executive producers Bob & Harvey Weinstein. Screenplay by Jeffrey Polman, Christopher Keyser. Cinematographer Johnny Jensen. Editor Sharyn L. Ross. Costumes Marsha Perloff. Music Hummi Mann. Production design Marina Kieser. Art director David Seth Lazan. Running time: 1 hour, 32 minutes.

MPAA-rated R (for violence, sexuality and language).