In the Blink of an Eye (1996) starring Veronica Hamel, Mimi Rogers, Carlos Gómez, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Brian Markinson, Mary Mara, Denise Richards directed by Micki Dickoff Movie Review

In the Blink of an Eye (1996)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Veronica Hamel in In the Blink of an Eye (1996)

Micki's Exonerated

Micki Dickoff (Veronica Hamel) and Sonia 'Sunny' Jacobs (Mimi Rogers) were best friends as children, closer than sisters but as they grew up they drifted apart. That is until out of the blue having made a name for herself as documentary maker Micki learns that Sunny is not only in prison but has been on death row for 15 years. Unable to believe that her friend can be guilty of the murders she said to have committed Micki sets about trying to discover the truth and get her friend set free.

So here is a movie directed by Micki Dickoff about herself and how she went about proving that her friend on death row was innocent. Now even when the director is this close to the material I would imagine some aspects of the true story have been changed, events left out, characters altered and so on because unfortunately movies which mirror real life exactly don't work. I don't know the true story of what happened so don't know what is fact and what has been changed although I do remember the story of Sunny Jacobs being part of the thought provoking "The Exonerated".

Mimi Rogers in In the Blink of an Eye (1996)

Anyway what we get "In the Blink of an Eye" is in truth actually quite a standard made for TV movie in the way the story is told. After some build up which establishes the friendship, how the years have passed and Micki becoming a documentary maker we then get to see flashbacks. Those flashbacks take us through Sunny's story as to how she ended up being accused of murder and on death row. It has atmosphere and an element of danger but nothing you won't have seen in half a dozen other made for TV movies.

The other side of this is Micki then doing some investigating and discovering the truth behind what happened and sorting things out. I won't go in to details as whilst predictable "In the Blink of an Eye" does have some nice moments of drama and some interesting story elements.

As for the acting well this is where "In the Blink of an Eye" is set in TV movie stone with both Hamel and Rogers failing to come across as believable as real people. They both play interesting and attractive characters but the way they react to each other and the various events is 100% the sort of thing you get from movies all about women being strong.

What this all boils down to is that "In the Blink of an Eye" is an interesting story but one which is made in a purely typical made for TV fashion. It is because of that familiar style that some of the power of the true story is lost.


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