“Double Jeopardy”, the 1999 thriller starring Tommy Lee Jones and Ashley Judd, is the No. 3 movie on Tubi in the U.S., according to FlixPatrol’s Oct. 17 rankings. Only “The Green Mile” and “The Goonies” are ahead of it.
It was No. 2 a day earlier, after six days on the free streamer’s top 10. The rest of this week’s chart leans old too, with “The ‘Burbs,” “Witness” and John Carpenter’s “Christine” all in the top 10.
The Story
Judd plays Libby Parsons, a woman convicted of killing her husband, Nick, played by Bruce Greenwood. Nick isn’t dead. He faked his death and set her up. In prison, a fellow inmate who used to be a lawyer tells Libby that the double jeopardy clause means she can’t be convicted again for killing him. Once she’s paroled, she goes looking for him.
Jones plays Travis Lehman, the parole officer who follows her from Whidbey Island, near Seattle, to New Orleans, where Nick is running a boutique hotel under a new name. Bruce Beresford, who directed “Driving Miss Daisy,” directed the film for Paramount.
It came out five years after Jones won the Oscar for best supporting actor for “The Fugitive,” according to Wikipedia. In that one, he was also chasing someone the law had gotten wrong.
Three Weeks at No. 1
“Double Jeopardy” opened on Sept. 24, 1999, and was the No. 1 movie in the country for three straight weekends. In its second weekend, it made an estimated $17.2 million, down only 23%, which brought its 10-day total to $47.4 million, Variety reported at the time. The trade called it “a cat-and-mouse yarn with female appeal.”
The film cost $40 million and finished with $116 million in the U.S. and $177.8 million worldwide, according to Wikipedia.
Critics were less impressed. It has a 28% score on Rotten Tomatoes from 87 reviews and a 40 on Metacritic. Audiences on opening weekend gave it a B+ CinemaScore.
Who Almost Played Libby
Judd wasn’t the first choice. Jodie Foster was attached to the role and left the project in December 1997, citing personal reasons. Michelle Pfeiffer turned it down before Judd entered talks, and Greg Kinnear was originally wanted for the part of Nick.
The Law Doesn’t Work That Way
Legal experts have criticized the movie’s premise. Double jeopardy protects someone from being tried twice for the same set of facts. A killing years later, in a different place, would be a new crime, so Libby’s plan wouldn’t hold up in a real courtroom. The Straight Dope made that point about the movie.
“Double Jeopardy” is streaming free on Tubi.
