Changing Lanes

I've really rediscovered the joy of the Blockbuster rental lately. Don't get me wrong I thoroughly enjoy a good theatre outing - big screen, big popcorn - but the rental is great too. No lines, lower prices, no one kicking the back of your seat, not having your feet get stuck to the floor because there is a 10 year old layer of carbonation and candy on the ground - it's great. Furthermore if there is nothing worth paying the hefty ticket price at the theatre currently, you can always find something tucked away in the Blockbuster aisles.

Last night I picked up Changing Lanes featuring Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson. Ever since Pearl Harbor I have never been able to look at Ben Affleck the same way but because of my unhealthy obsession with Good Will Hunting and the absurd amount of times that I have seen it I will forever give Affleck the benefit of the doubt and still watch his current movies. Samuel L. Jackson has played an incredibly diverse and sometimes random amount of roles in his career but usually can always be counted on to deliver a solid performance.

Changing Lanes revolves around these two men - Gavin (Affleck) is partner in a high profile law firm that deals with municipal finance while Doyle (Jackson) is an insurance salesman battling his past, alcoholism and battling for his marriage or at least joint custody of his children. On one fateful day the two men are speeding along on the freeway - Gavin on his way to a hearing where his law firm is being sued for the mishandling of a large charity's funds (of which they are guilty - they stole 3 million dollars from the charity) and Doyle is on his way to a custody hearing, the last and most important one of his life as a father, the one where he finally had the chance to prove he had gotten his act together (which he had) - as they speed along Gavin (Affleck)changes lanes and crashes into Doyle's (Jackson) car.

As this accident couldn't have come at a worse time for either man - Gavin's carreer and Doyle's family are at stake here on this day - Gavin tries to offer Doyle a blank check for him to fix any damage as he just needs to get the heck out of there whereas Doyle wants to swap insurance and do it the right way as he needs to not do anything to jeopardize his newly cleaned up image. Gavin doesn't have time for this, throws him the blank check and begins to speed off. As it begins to rain, Doyle asks him for a ride into town (Gavin's car is driveable still where Doyle's is totaled) to which Gavin responds, "Sorry, better luck next time."

The plot thickens when it turns out that Gavin had dropped the file on which his whole case pivots at the scene of the accident and Doyle managed to pick it up. After Doyle loses his custody hearing after being a half-hour late because of the accident - a hearing which he would have probably won for he really had become a changed man - he throws everything in his hands away in disgust, including the file Gavin needs. After another run-in with Gavin whereby Doyle learns of the importance of the file, Doyle salvages it from the garbage can and a battle of wills ensues. How far will Gavin go to get back this file - his inconsideration earlier already screwed Doyle over, will he now go even further to get what he needs? After learning how precious this file is to Gavin, how long can Doyle fight the seductive calling of revenge before he takes matters into his own hands and tries to make Gavin experience the same pain he feels?

I enjoyed this movie and chose to blog on it for 2 reasons:

First, it does a good job of showing the wavering moral compass man possesses - even sometimes for us as Christians. The Golden Rule, the Sermon on the Mount, the Fruit of the Spirit, etc. are all good and well on paper or in our lives when we are not tried. The question is does our moral compass or will our commitment to a certain ethic change under great duress? How rigid is the "Due North" line, so to speak, on the compass of our morality or Christian ethic? I know for me in my own life my commitment to the Lord, my appreciation of his grace, my desire for holiness is sky high when things are constantly falling into place, but as soon as one bad day comes along I all too often listen to that seductive call to abandon waiting on the Lord or seeking his face to instead take matters into my own hands or just simply grow bitter and jaded. Or what about our standards for life? The Christian life is great on paper but how committed are we to really live it out once we are on our own - living without the watchful eye of parents, teachers, roommates, etc.? It is said that character is what you do when no one is watching...so what are we doing?

Secondly, I enjoyed this movie because of the perspective it brings. There is a reason why "Crap Happens" attained bumper-sticker-status...because it does. All the time. We live in a broken world, full of broken people doing broken things and being victims of broken things. A lot of people have more bad days then good. The writer of this blog and most of you who read this don't fall into that category - we are blessed beyond belief - but so many people are not. So many people experience things and have days and go through stuff that we can't imagine. So many people when we bump into them on the street act in a way that makes us think they are a huge jerk and sometimes they simply may be that, but sometimes they may have been through things earlier in the day that we can't imagine and we must be sensitive to that. Especially in ministry - we must be able to look at people and see past the skin to the heart issues. People have wounds and scars and pasts that may cause them to act in certain ways and we must be sensitive and keen to that.

So pick it up if you haven't seen the movie - it was entertaining and also thought provoking and while I may have given away a lot there is more to see.

And while another bumper sticker tells us that "mean people suck" let's remember "unloving, insensitve and morally indecent Christians suck more."