Derailed

‘They Never Saw It Coming’ goes the tagline of this thriller, but you probably will. When married commuter Charles (Clive Owen) embarks on an illicit affair with the mysterious Lucinda (Jennifer Aniston), trouble follows in the shape of violent thief Philippe LaRoche (Vincent Cassel), who uses his knowledge of their union to blackmail Charles. Naturally, Charles has a sickly child who needs a costly live-saving operation: guess where his savings are going?

Until the action kicks in, this is vaguely engaging: the couple’s flirtation involves and the character of Lucinda intrigues. But the increasingly preposterous plot starts to take on a life of its own, morphing into the sort of twist-addled trash usually reserved for cheap TV thrillers. While Aniston and Owen retain a surprising amount of dignity, Cassel lays on the dastardly villain act a bit thick (much as he did in ‘Ocean’s Twelve’). There are some dark laughs as foolish Charles gets in way over his head, but like the glaring twist signals, it’s hard to tell how intentional they are.