Double Jeopardy
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What the Critics Have to Say About
Bruce Greenwood in Double Jeopardy
range of critics and sources -- all about our favorite
actor and his performance in this widely reviewed film:
One reason that last year's surprise smash "Double Jeopardy" defied the critics to become a box-office bonanza was that it had a marvelous slime ball of a villain: Ashley Judd's duplicitous husband, played by Bruce Greenwood. He was smart and vicious enough to make a vivid nemesis.
- LA Times 7/17/00
***** After enjoying a moon-kissed romantic interlude with hubby (Bruce Greenwood doing fine things in the counterfeit nice guy, Joseph Cotten role), Libby wakes up alone, her robe stained with blood......... Here, Atom Egoyan veteran Greenwood's expert turn as the villain, and a carefully modulated performance from Jones as the bruised but belligerent law enforcement official give the film dash and polish.
-Stephen Cole National Post 9/24/99
***** The handsome Mr. Greenwood is a satisfyingly slimy Nick - and I mean that in only the nicest way.
-Debra Lass, Film Scouts 9/30/99
***** After a long absence from the story, Greenwood's bad guy takes center stage and imbues the picture with an oily presence that this excellent Canadian thesp clearly enjoys. .........Judd, Jones and Greenwood deserve more than this crafted but basic paint-by-numbers thriller vehicle, but they are by no means slumming their way through.
-Robert Koehler, Variety 9/19/99
***** Greenwood's performance in the film's opening minutes is a study in how a good actor can subtly manage to make an entire audience hate him, while doing nothing overtly vicious.
-Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle 9/24/99
***** The fresher face belongs to Greenwood, who has transformed himself from the brooding presence of Atom Egoyan's "The Sweet Hereafter" and "Exotica" into a dashing, leading-evil-man figure. His role is that of a run-of-the-mill sleazebag, but he plays it with a sly intelligence that fixes your attention whenever he's on screen.
-Mark Caro, Chicago Tribune 9/24/99
***** ... successful husband Nick (Bruce Greenwood, probably the best one in the cast) ...
-Stephen Hunter, Washington Post 9/24/99
***** Greenwood's suave good looks make him perfect to model men's casual wear and play a scheming husband, and he does both here; even the sun-browned crinkles around Nick's eyes ooze manly corruption. ....Greenwood -- a veteran of dozens of TV shows who played Dr. Seth Griffin on "St. Elsewhere" -- is an even bigger ham as a New Orleans creep than he was as a Northwest creep, and damn near steals the whole movie. (I look forward to seeing him play John F. Kennedy in the forthcoming "Thirteen Days.") When Greenwood, Jones and Dave Hager (as a New Orleans cop) are all in the movie, there's enough growly character-actor charisma on screen to fuel a late-night fishing show.
-Andrew O'Hehir, SALON.com 9/24/99
***** It will even help the rising star of Canada's Bruce Greenwood (The Sweet Hereafter, Exotica) who has now shown, with the role of Nick, that he can play a glinty-eyed baddie and recite wooden dialogue intensely.
-Ray Conlogue, Globe and Mail 9/24/99
***** The third main actor, Bruce Greenwood, is also much better than the material. Greenwood will not be familiar to most American viewers, but he is a well-respected Canadian character actor who has had key parts in Atom Egoyan's Exotica and The Sweet Hereafter (he played a grieving father in both films).
-James Berardinelli, Colossus.net 9/26/99
***** Greenwood, husband and villain, under the direction of Bruce Beresford, does well with the role you love to hate, spreading his sexual charisma among the females at a bachelor auction when Libby finally catches up with him.
-Lou Tappon, Reel Critic 10/7/99
***** Bruce Greenwood, in the role of Judd's husband, conveys charm and cruelty in equal parts...
-Liz Braun, Toronto Sun 9/24/99
***** Greenwood is also deserving of a better role, but he manages to play the movie's villain with a certain level of finesse.
-Anthony Leong, MediaCircus 9/28/99
***** As the villain, Bruce Greenwood ("The Sweet Hereafter," "Disturbing Behavior") is appropriately smarmy, particularly when donning a New Orleans accent in his newfound identity. Although not a particularly noteworthy or strongly written bad guy, Greenwood embodies the character with enough badness to give the audience reason to cheer his well-deserved and obviously predictable comeuppance.
Screen It! 9/26/99
***** The Canadian Mr. Greenwood ("The Sweet Hereafter") makes his few screen moments count...
-Jane Sumner, Dallas Morning News 9/24/99
***** Greenwood, memorable for fine work in Atom Egoyan's films, gets lost in the slick villain's role, partly because Beresford makes would-be Hitchcockian cat-and-mouse games the film's main concern.
-Janet Maslin, The New York Times 9/94/99
***** But Judd carries the set-up and frame-up, in which we see Libby being tried and convicted for the murder of her smarmy rich husband, Nick (Bruce Greenwood in a nicely vicious turn).
-Peter Howell, Winnipeg Sun 9/24/99
***** As it cranks into gear, Judd is appealing, Greenwood makes a marvellously hissable villain, and the movie has a couple of good car chases, one terrific stunt (Judd driving a car right off a state ferry), and a scene of show-stopping creepiness in which Judd wakes up inside a coffin.
-William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer / Hamilton Spectator 9/24/99
***** And in the one-armed man role, Greenwood is appropriately charming in a repugnant kind of way.
-Winnipeg Sun 9/24/99
***** Greenwood as Judd's nefarious hubby is smoothly evil but in barely a walk-on role. He's interesting enough that we want to see more of him before he gets his expected (and predictable) comeuppance.
-Bob Curtright, Wichita Eagle 9/25/99
***** Greenwood, a fine art-film actor best known for Exotica and The Sweet Hereafter, plays evil with enigmatic, oily charm.
-Curtis Morgan, The Miami Herald 9/24/99
***** On a simplistic level, the movie works as a revenge fantasy. Filmgoers around me (mostly women) shouted, "You go, girl!" and "Shoot him!" when Libby set out after her slimy mate (well-played by Bruce Greenwood).
-Lawrence Toppman, The Charlotte Observer Sept. 24, 1999
***** And the husband, Nick, played by Bruce Greenwood as one of the best movie creeps of recent vintage, is not dead -- he's off with a load of money and Libby's friend (Annabeth Gish), soon his new wife, while Libby goes to prison for six years before getting conditional parole....True to form for such movies, implausibilities wink broadly. Like Libby not being granted bail, and the jaw-dropping impotence of her lawyer, and the very fortuitous way in which she finds that Nick, that smiling scum, is still alive. And, you wonder, why was she so in love with this devious swine?
-David Elliott, San Diego Union-Tribune 9/24/99***** It's a transparent formula: Cook up a suitably evil bad guy, this time personified by smug, overachieving yuppie Nick Parsons (a suitably sinister Bruce Greenwood).
-Philip Booth, Orlando Weekly 9/24/99***** Seems her rich hubby Nick (Bruce Greenwood in a nicely slippery turn) had been doing some bad things at the bank.
-Bob Straussc, Daily News Los Angeles 9/24/99***** It all starts when Elizabeth Parsons's husband, Nick (Bruce Greenwood as a good slime ball), fakes his own death while sailing with her.
-Steven Rhodes, IMdB***** Bruce Greenwood does a fine job of playing Nick as a callous, greedy SOB who is almost too easy to despise.
-James Kendrick, Film Desk***** Anyone who has seen the trailer for this film knows that they don't have to fret about Greenwood - he's not dead.
-Sue Pierman, Special to the Journal Sentinel 9/24/99
*****
Question: How was it working with Bruce? What Ashley Judd Has to Say About Bruce in Double Jeopardy
Judd: Greenwood?
Question: Yes
Judd: Wonderful! He is a giant talent! He is a wonderful, wonderful actor.
-Double Jeopardy Premiere, hollywood.comFor Greenwood, who plays Judd's conniving husband in the movie, Judd has nothing but praise. But she steadfastly refused to watch the 1995 TV movie Naomi and Wynonna: Love Can Build a Bridge, in which Greenwood plays Judd's stepfather. "I have no association of him in the role," she says. The TV movie, for which she did some narration, "doesn't reflect my reality and my perception of what my family is.
JAM! Movies 9/19/99