(Mixed, Minor Spoilers)

Kevin Spacey stars as David Gale, a hard core anti death penalty advocate who finds himself behind bars and a few days shy of execution himself for the rape and murder of his partner, Constance.

With 3 days to go, he grants an interview to Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet, I believe) and her intern/assistant Zach to try to "clear the air" on a few things.

We are thusly subjected to an in-depth look at David's life as a university professor to his disgrace from a charge of raping a student (which was dismissed but the stigma cost him his family) to how he wound up on death row.

Over the 3 days, Bitsey becomes convinced of David's innocence and sets out to prove it. I'll admit, up to this point I was getting quite bored and I figured since I'm almost 70 pages into this, I might as well stick it out to the end.

The set-up is veeeeerrrrryyyy long and booooorrrrring. I understand why it's this way but ...*yawn..if you get the idea. I'm sure it will be another stellar performance by Spacey and a nice departure for Winslet. No corsets needed here, honey.

There is a shadowy figure spotted early on that practically screams "villain" and so I thought this to be a basic formula death row pic. blah blah blah.

Well, I was VERY surprised by the wrap up and the final scene proved to be quite a surprise. I sure as hell didn't see THAT coming. It's the kind of ending that will leave you stunned and yet wanting to talk about it. I'm not talking about a Sixth Sense (he's dead, Jim) kind of ending but definitely something to look forward to.

Bottom line: matinee. The set is long-winded but the payoff is nice.