Brokedown Palace

1999

Action / Drama / Mystery / Thriller

30
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 31% · 35 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 66% · 25K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.4/10 10 25289 25.3K

prison holiday thailand vacation drugs injustice

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Plot summary

Best friends Alice and Darlene take a trip to Thailand after graduating high school. In Thailand, they meet a captivating Australian man, who calls himself Nick Parks. Darlene is particularly smitten with Nick and convinces Alice to take Nick up on his offer to treat the two of them to what amounts to a day trip to Hong Kong. In the airport, the girls are seized by the police and shocked to discover that one of their bags contains heroin.

Director

Jonathan Kaplan Photo
Jonathan Kaplan

Top cast

Kate Beckinsale Photo
Kate Beckinsale as Darlene Davis
Claire Danes Photo
Claire Danes as Alice Marano
Paul Walker Photo
Paul Walker as Jason
Bill Pullman Photo
Bill Pullman as Hank Greene
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
858.06 MB
1280*548
English 2.0
PG-13
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 40 min
Seeds 5
1.61 GB
1904*816
English 2.0
PG-13
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 40 min
Seeds 14

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by John Chard 6 / 10

That's all freedom is... an illusion. Two carefree

That's all freedom is... an illusion. Two carefree teenage girls are jailed in Thailand for allegedly smuggling Heroin while on vacation. It has become the stuff of reality nightmares, seemingly every year there is the reports of foreigners abroad caught smuggling drugs. Quite often the innocence is starkly protested, claims of being duped or threatened into being drug mules through customs borders. Brokedown Palace is an interpretation of one such instance. There's a viable complaint about the film that it condenses the harsh realities of the surroundings, this "Brokedown Palace" is not portrayed as the dirty hell holes they so often are in reality. This initially gives the film a sort of false feel, that we are being fed a watered down Hollywood production of something very serious. However, looking deeper into the picture as a character piece, Jonathan Kaplan's film beats a mighty heart and has brain staying power as well. Claire Danes and Kate Beckinsale (both superb) are the two friends at the centre of this mystery. Story is more concerned with how their friendship copes under the trying circumstances. Through the initial shock of their situation, to the faux trial, the interactions with others and the relationship they have with their American lawyer, Hank the Yank (Bill Pullman). There's also the not small matter that one of the girls might actually be guilty as charged? Which really gives the piece an intriguing kick. Unfortunately it falls down in other areas. How come the girls are perfectly coiffured? Quite often splendidly attired in cosmetics? As Kaplan strains for authenticity in human interactions, he loses credibility elsewhere because these two girls look like actors who have had a "don't make me look ugly" clause inserted into their contracts. Ultimately when the story is dialled into the two girls and their friendship, Brokedown Palace hits the heights required, elsewhere it's a disappointment and it's not hard to understand why the two lead actresses practically disowned the film shortly after their publicity commitments were over. 6/10
Reviewed by Chance_Boudreaux19 7 / 10

Could've been a lot better but undeniably enjoyable

I found myself very surprised at how much I enjoyed this movie. I put it on thinking it's going to be very forgettable but I ended up being engaged in the story for the whole runtime. The movie has a very late 90s/early 2000s feel to it that makes it kind of cheesy and the musical choices make it feel like a music video that would play on MTV at the time but the story makes up for this. I was genuinely intrigued at what will happen to the two main protagonists and that's probably due to a strong screenplay. The twists and turns delivered and I think that majority of the topics the movie covers are true to life in terms of how drug trafficking in Thailand operates and how easily naive people can be framed by a charming stranger.The main aspect that brings this movie down is the direction. Jonathan Kaplan was a capable director and this movie seems outside his style. I find his choices to be very weird, like the aforementioned MTV inspired style. Now, I don't know if that's his fault as it was probably what the studio mandated but I expect this movie to have a more gritty feel to it. On top of that, the performances vary a lot. Bill Pullman is great as usual but the two main leads aren't. I've seen much better performances from both of them. Claire Danes was ok for the most part and showed some range with a few bad moments but Kate Beckinsale was pretty bad. However, they can be excused due to not having much experience at the time and maybe the director not giving them enough feedback and instructions. All the flaws add up and yet like I said previously I enjoyed watching this, and so I can't judge it unfavorably as I rate movies based on ejoyment. It could've been a better film but what we got is intriguing enough for me to reommend despite all the flaws that it possesses.
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