Paul Rivers (Penn) is a math professor whose heart is failing and who needs a transplant. Christina Peck (Watts) is a suburban housewife (and recovering drug addict) who has a loving husband and two daughters. Jack Jordan (Del Toro) is an ex-con who has found Jesus and loves his wife and children too. But a tragic accident in which Jordan's large pickup kills Christina's husband and kids, after which the husband's heart is given to Paul brings these three very separate lives together. Paul looks up Christina, falls in love with her, and she asks him to kill Jack for revenge. The story is told in out-of-sequence fragments. Co-writer and director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, who made a considerable splash with his 2000 debut, "Amores Perros," presents an accomplished and extremely well acted, if a little too tricky and cool 2003 thriller. This was Penn's second superb performance of the year, after the vivid but less nuanced "Mystic River."
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The review of this Movie prepared by David Loftus
