THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

Haggis, as he has proven many times in the past, has a real flair for the melodramatic and he certainly puts that skill to good use in his adaptation of the 2007 French film Pour Elle ( Anything for Her ) by writer-director Fred Cavayé. ( Enough of Cavayé's work remains that he's given a co-screening credit. ) The plot follows the now-portly Russell Crowe as a college professor whose hot-tempered wife ( played by Elizabeth Banks ) is convicted of the murder of her boss during a fracas in an underground parking garage. The evidence against the wife is compelling and none of her appeals have worked. After seeing the couple's young son psychologically begin to pull away from his mother, who reacts by attempting suicide, and faced with years apart from his beloved, the husband decides the only way back to happiness is to break his wife out of the slammer and to create a new life for his family on the lam.

The husband's plan goes into effect after he meets and interviews a former criminal who broke out of jail repeatedly and wrote a best-seller about it ( Liam Neeson, in a cameo ) . The husband also utilizes the Internet in his quest ( conveniently finding YouTube videos that instruct him on how to make pass keys, etc. ) . Finally, he needs fake passports and IDs and, to find them, heads to the bad side of Pittsburgh ( where the film takes place and was shot ) and, eventually, locates someone who can help him.

After much soul-searching and scheming, Haggis finally stages the breakout. But it's not enough that the wife is freed; now the husband has to retrieve the kid and get them across the border. Throughout at least the last half of the movie suspense mixes with the aforesaid unbelievability, topped by this last sequence that finds Haggis ramping up the action as the movie goes into a variation on The Fugitive. Along the way, the husband makes so many bumbling mistakes it's a wonder he ever gets to first base with his plan ( blundering almost as badly as Janet Leigh in Psycho ) .

Haggis throws together a chain of events that, to be kind, are not remotely plausible, while Crowe and Banks couldn't be more mismatched onscreen. But both actors—along with a nicely chosen supporting cast ( that includes Brian Dennehy and the deaf actor Ty Giordano, who played the gay son in The Family Stone ) —give it their all. So if one is willing to suspend disbelief ( as the actors must have when they got a look at the script ) and make a leap of faith, the patently false The Next Three Days is also, surprisingly, nicely enjoyable.

Film notes:

—Sparkle Neely Sparkle! This is your final reminder of the Saturday, Nov. 20, Camp Midnight presentation of 1967's Valley of the Dolls, the wretchedly fabulous showbiz camp classic with star Patty Duke in person at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport. David Cerda, artistic director of Hell in a Handbag Productions and Dick O'Day, my alter ego, will host the event, which will begin with a 1 p.m. pre-show featuring a costume parade, Valley of the Dolls sing-along at the Music Box organ, prizes, interactive screening of an archival print of the film and a post-screening discussion with Duke. VIP tickets for the event are sold out but regular seats are still available. Proceeds will partially benefit the Queer Film Society; see www.musicboxtheatre.com .

—Pride Films and Plays, the locally based non-profit organization created by its Executive Director David Zak, is presenting staged readings of the five finalists in the group's Great Gay Screenplay Contest. The readings of the screenplays—all which feature LGBT themes and/or characters—will take place at the Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted, on Saturday, Nov. 20 at 5 p.m. ( The Trouble with e and Detasseling ) and on Sunday, Nov. 21, at 3 p.m. ( Bethlehem, Skirt and The Queen of Hearts ) . The finalists were judged by Billy Corgan, Anthony Rapp, Bruce Vilanch and Billy Masters, among others. An audience-award favorite, voted on by attendees, will be announced with the judge's selection at the conclusion of the Nov. 21 reading. The event is being sponsored by Pride Films and Plays, Lampkin Music Group, the Queer Film Society and Center on Halsted. See www.pridefilmsandplays.com .

—Call for entries: LGBT filmmaker John Scagliotti—who created PBS's gay TV series In the Life and produced the documentary Before Stonewall—is looking for entries from queer filmmakers for Cineslam, an LGBT film-shorts festival held each June in Vermont. Preceding that, eight emerging LGBT filmmakers will have their movies shown during the second annual Pride of the Ocean Film Festival Cruise ( sailing from Boston to Bermuda May 27-June 3, 2011 ) . In addition, the selected filmmakers will be complimentary guests of the festival cruise and will be invited to participate in Cineslam. Submission requirements for the short film fest are at www.cineslam.com . Cruise details are at www.prideoftheocean.com .

Check out my archived reviews at www.windycitytimes.com or www.knightatthemovies.com . Readers can leave feedback at the latter website.