Paycheck

Reviewed by:
Paul Ulane

So your memory’s been erased, you have no idea what’s happening, and Uma Thurman comes to your aid. (Sigh.) We said, your memory’s been erased, you have no idea what’s happening, and Uma Thurman comes to your aid. (Damn, write it down or something.) In Ben Affleck’s latest attempt at ruining a major motion picture, Paycheck dresses him up as Richard Jennings, a big-time computer engineer (with an even bigger-time head) who’s discovered something in his field so revolutionary that his employers erase the past three years of his memory. (Sounds just like the aftermath of our annual holiday party.) When he wakes up, the FBI and a few major technology companies want him dead, captured, or agreeing to star in a Gigli sequel, so he’s forced to run while trying to piece everything back together. Searching for someone to trust, he runs into the girlfriend he doesn’t remember (Thurman) and longtime friend Shorty (Paul Giamatti), and continues to be chased until the budget runs out. Director John Woo races through the oft-adapted material of Philip K. Dick fast enough to hold off your Total Recall comparisons, and Thurman, Giamatti, and Aaron Eckhart all do their best to hide Ben’s gigantic chin-dimple. We’d love to tell you more, but that’s all we can remember.