4/5 AN INVENTIVE AND PROFOUND MODERN DAY MORALITY TALE...
  by Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle)
This is a wonderfully creative movie, with top-notch directing and award caliber performances by a talented cast. The premise is a fairly simple one. Three young men, Sheriff (Vincent Vaughn), Tony (David Conrad), and Louis (Joaquin Phoenix), who previously didn't know one another, team up in Malaysia and party hearty. They have fun drinking, smoking hashish, and picking up girls. Sheriff and Tony head back to the states, leaving Louis behind, as he has a wildlife conservation idea involving orangutans that he wishes to pursue while in Malaysia. Before they go, Sheriff makes it a point to leave his dope stash in the house in which Louis is remaining. Later, the police come to search the premises on a matter unrelated to the dope stash. When they find it, however, they arrest Louis, who literally has been left holding the bag.

Two years later, Anne Heche enters the picture as a lawyer, ostensibly working on behalf of her client, Louis. She seeks out Sheriff and Tony with a proposition. It seems that while Sheriff and Tony have been getting on with their lives, Louis has been rotting in a Malaysian prison for the past two years and living in sheer terror. You see, Louis is scheduled to be executed in eight days as a drug dealer, as the amount of dope that had been left behind and discovered by the police was just over a threshold amount that would classify it as being for distribution, rather than for personal use. The only hope Louis has of staying alive is if Sheriff and Tony go back to Malaysia to take responsibility for their part in this and serve three years each. If only one returns, then the sole returnee faces six years. Will it be all for one and one for all? Will Louis live to personally thank his friends? Watch the movie and find out.

Vince Vaughn as Sheriff gives a compelling performance. Playing the quintessential Everyman, he struggles with his moral obligation. It is strictly a moral one, as legally he can just sit by and do nothing. Tony, too, undergoes some soul searching. They finally both come to the same conclusion, or do they? The dilemma that they face is an excruciatingly personal one. The movie builds up to a level of suspense that is totally unexpected. There are enough twists and turns to keep you guessing. Meanwhile, Joaquin Phoenix, one of the finest young actors of his generation, gives a performance that will haunt the viewer for days. Anne Heche also give a noteworthy performance, intense and relentless in her quest to save what life Louis has left. Jada Pinkett also gives a strong performance as a news reporter who is interested in the story. Her interjection into the movie brings into the forefront the issue of the responsibility of the press. When you see this movie, you will understand what this means.

This film is excellent on all fronts. The only weakness was an unnecessary subplot, which involved a blossoming romance between Sheriff and the character played by Anne Heche. Were it not for this digression, I would have given the movie five stars. It is an otherwise profoundly moving film that deserves to be seen.

5/5 what would you do?
  by Abby Ray (AUSTRALIA)
When I was at university I was asked to write an essay on the ethical issues in this film. Wow, the whole idea really blows me away. What would you do it their position? It really is a tough one.
It's one of those films where you can really put yourself in their shoes, not that anyone would want to. The story itself is touching and I think it's well made. I can't stop thinking about it.
Oh.. and Vince Vaughn is so hot!
ENJOY

4/5 Paradise Found: A Lush, Intelligent Character-Driven Film
  by Marie E. Toenniessen (Massachusetts)
(NO SPOILERS...)

Return to Paradise is a beautifully written, crafted and acted film, one of the few DVDs in my collection that I just keep coming back to.

The prologue in Malaysia begins during the credits and is worth the watch in itself. The driving music, hand-held camera effects, and MTV-style editing evoke the carelessness of youth, of drugs, sex, booze ... a young man's idea of "Paradise". This grabs our interest, and establishes the dynamic between these three guys, who are off for a post-college fling before assuming their "real" lives.

The bulk of the film is devoted to the consequences of their idyll. The characters are: Tony, an opaque, friendly, Everyman in his pursuit of an honorable, yet conventional life. Louis (Joachim Phoenix) a gentle soul - whose plan is to stay in Southeast Asia and pursue Animal Rights ... and "Sheriff", played by Vince Vaughn - a tough, straight talking hustler from Brooklyn.

It is Sheriff's journey that we stay with as the action moves over to America, then back to 'Paradise'. And Vaughn brings a paradoxical depth and subtlety to this character. Ann Heche matches him by creating an intense volubly erotic counterpart. We feel for them as each delicately, falteringly, uses the other as a catalyst to reach for the nobility in their souls.

Things do not turn out as we (or they) expect. Character relationships reshuffle a bit near the end, but rather than being devices to surprise or tweak our emotions, these twists and turns of the plot help ensure that Sheriff's decisions feel like his own.

The best thing about Return to Paradise is that there are no bad guys. A life 'hangs in the balance', but the competing forces are (as in the real world) created by a myriad of individuals all acting out their own interests with no real malice, yet perhaps without the purposeful empathy represented by the Louis character.

The interplay between Tony, Louis, Sheriff, Beth, the Malaysian officials and MJ Major (an aggressive reporter played by Jada Pinkett-Smith in an acerbic, pivotal, cameo) keep us riveted all the way through to the final, cathartic, conclusion.

Lush settings and cinematography, complex emotional sub-plots. Don't miss it.

3/5 Moral Passion Play Turns Into Tepid Romantic Melodrama--Too Bad
  by K. Harris (Las Vegas, NV)
In the American adaptation of "Force majeure," we get a great setup. "Return to Paradise" poses the moral dilemma of whether someone would be willing to give up several years of freedom to save another's life. It's a fantastic, sticky ethical quandary and one that I think is presented quite well in this film. Vince Vaughn and David Conrad play two guys who are asked this question--as a buddy they left in Malaysia is about to be put to death (on a drug charge for which they all bore responsibility).

As we see these two wrestle with the implications, the doubts and the ambiguities--this film is at its strongest. How far will you go to be a "good" person, and is it worth it? Very weighty issues.

The first half of this film is solid, solid material. The lawyer who approaches them, played by Anne Heche, also gets involved with Vaughn personally. I could have done without this romance--but as characters struggling and conflicted and despairing, I suppose there was some basis for them to be drawn together. Another outside force, however, is a newspaper reporter played by hard-as-nails Jada Pinkett Smith. For those of you who have seen the patented Pinkett Smith hard-as-nails performance--it's really not much to see. And her character is pretty pointless, as well--a plot convenience to be revealed at a later time. But even though it was far from perfect, this half was thoroughly compelling.

Sadly, the film ventures to Malaysia for the remainder of the movie. What becomes painfully obvious now is that our romance has moved to the forefront of the picture. Joaquin Pheonix, as the prisoner, has yet to be fleshed out as a character. We don't see any real relationship between he and Vaughn or he and Heche. This is a fatal flaw! As we move into melodrama, I was surprisingly unmoved. Intellectually, I knew I should care but the film never bothered to emotionally invest me. So while I was left cold having hoped for so much more--then the big surprise courtroom revelation (see plot convenience mentioned in above paragraph).

Ultimately, the romance was again played up for the finale. With Phoenix being a character construct or plot device--instead of someone we knew and cared about--the film kills itself. Far from being an awful movie--what could have been powerful and emotionally devastating is really just mundane. KGHarris, 10/06.

4/5 a good movie
  by
i saw return to paradise a few months ago and i decided to review on it. the movie starts off with three guys, lewis, sheriff, and tony on vacation in malaysia. lewis decides to stay and save the aragatans while the other two leave. lewis ends up getting busted for having hashesh in his house. two years later his lawyer goes to new york and tells sheriff and tony that if they don't go back to malaysia and spend three years in jail, lewis will hang.
this is an extroadinary movie with a good plot and great acting. although jada pinkett smith really botherd me in this movie. i just wished she would've gotten hit by a truck crossing the road. in the movie, of course.