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Michael Butts | Martinsburg, WV USA | 05/18/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"PROXIMITY is almost a good movie, and even as it is, it kept me interested. But be warned: Rob Lowe is rather wooden as the lead, and he does some incredibly stupid things; the villains (all cops) also do incredibly stupid things. However, amidst all this stupidity, are some tight action scenes and some good suspense. The movie posits the question of justice for the victims' families. James Coburn plays an outwardly saintly man who offers resolution to the families of murder/manslaughter victims, which of course includes Lowe, who was responsible for the death of one of his students in a car accident in which he was drunk. Aside from ruining his marriage, it's also placed him in jail with more detestable killers, including David Flynn as a killer with no remorse or conscience, and who shamelessly chews up the scenery. Coburn's method of instilling justice is to have Flynn kill prisoners in the same prison housing Lowe. What's even worse is that the victims' families are paying large sums of money for Coburn to have this done. When Lowe finds out what's going on, Coburn marks him for death, but an ill-conceived attempt results in a van crash and Lowe getting freed to try and expose the culprits. The psychotic henchmen (Jonathan Banks, TC Carson) and the prison warden (Joe Santos) botch several attempts to catch Lowe, and Lowe uses a newspaper reporter (Scott Plate) to expose Coburn. A lot that goes on is ludicrous, but for a B movie thriller, director Scott Ziehl keeps the story moving and as a reviewer says, Cleveland has never looked lovelier. You could do worse."