Brian Banks (2019)    Bleecker Street/Drama    RT: 99 minutes    Rated PG-13 (thematic content and related images, language)    Director: Tom Shadyac    Screenplay: Doug Atchison    Music: John Debney    Cinematography: Ricardo Diaz    Release date: August 9, 2019 (US)    Cast: Aldis Hodge, Greg Kinnear, Sherri Shepherd, Melanie Liburd, Tiffany Dupont, Mystie Smith, Dorian Missick, Xosha Roquemore, Monique Grant, Matt Battaglia, Jose Miguel Vasquez, Kevin Yamada, Cyril Smith, Zeus Luby, David Clyde Carr, Morgan Freeman (uncredited).    Box Office: $4.4M (US)

Rating: ***

 I think the woman sitting a couple of rows behind me said it best about the Brian Banks case near the end of Brian Banks with this comment: “It’s bitches like her that make it more difficult for real rape victims to get justice.” I couldn’t agree more. In a time when we, as a society, are finally starting to believe victims of sexual abuse and assault, it infuriates me that somebody would make up a story about an attack in order to get revenge or get paid. It sets the #MeToo movement back several steps. It’s a risky move on the part of the studio to release a movie like Brian Banks at this time. I guess it’s a good thing that director Tom Shadyac avoids tackling this volatile subject head-on in favor of telling the story of how Banks cleared his name with the help of California Innocence Project. I, in turn, will cease editorializing and start my review.

 Aldis Hodge (Straight Outta Compton) plays Banks, a standout high school football star whose future was derailed when a female acquaintance falsely accused him of rape. On some bad advice from his useless attorney, he pleaded no contest and was sentenced to six years in prison followed by five years on parole. He was also ordered to register as a sexual offender for life meaning he wouldn’t be able to play football and nobody would ever hire him for a job, not even a menial one. Realizing his life will be a living hell with this hanging over him, Banks appeals to Justin Brooks (Kinnear, As Good as It Gets), the attorney who founded the CIP in 1999, for help clearing his name. Brooks doesn’t want to get involved at first. Due to the ways the laws are set up in California, it’s next to impossible to get a conviction overturned. He changes his mind once he sees how determined and sincere Banks is.

 Since they can’t use the DNA evidence that would surely exonerate him, the case rests on getting his accuser (Roquemore, The Mindy Project) to recant her initial accusation on the record. She doesn’t want to because it would mean she and her mother (Grant, The Hate U Give) would have to return the $1.5 million they received in a lawsuit against the school district.

 Brian Banks is pretty much the usual innocent man vs. an unjust legal system story told in many films before it. Because it’s a true story, we already know the outcome. Nonetheless, it’s a compelling film. For one thing, it doesn’t wallow in misery by showing us Banks’ life in prison. We get to see some of it but the main portion of the story takes place after his release. The movie jumps back and forth in time allowing for moments of legitimate suspense and true drama. I just wish it had shown more of the prison teacher (an uncredited Morgan Freeman) who mentors 16YO Banks during his first year in prison. It would have been interesting to see a little more of how he transformed from angry young man to one at relative peace with his situation.

 Hodge gives a solid performance as Banks. The way he calibrates his character’s rage makes it wholly believable even if he does launch into a speech (replete with tears) in one scene. Kinnear also does good work as Brooks with the way he balances idealism with world-weariness. Also quite good is Melanie Liburd (This Is Us) as Karina, a trainer who becomes Banks’ romantic interest. Her initial reluctance to get involved with him once he reveals his past is explained in one of the movie’s most touching moments. Roquemore’s performance veers into a distasteful ghetto stereotype making you question whether it’s a true depiction of the accuser or one fabricated by the makers. The name was changed, I guess, to prevent the family from filing a lawsuit. I can’t say for sure.

 That Brian Banks is directed by the same guy that did Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Nutty Professor, Liar Liar and Bruce Almighty is something of a shock until you remember he also did Patch Adams and Dragonfly. The good news is that it’s not as contrived, mawkish and insincere as the aforementioned dramas. It’s solidly crafted and well-intentioned. It makes you angry (as well it should) but not so much it ruins your entire day. Injustice is a bad thing. It’s true what they say in the movie about the system being broken. How else can you explain a system that allows an innocent man to go to jail despite a mountain of exculpatory evidence? Brian Banks asks these questions but offers no answers. All we can do is stand up for what’s right and hope truth prevails in the end.