Main cast: Meg Ryan (Alice Bowman), Russell Crowe (Terry Thorne), David Morse (Peter Bowman), Pamela Reed (Janis Goodman), and David Caruso (Dino)
Director: Taylor Hackford

A standard kidnap-and-ransom movie, Proof of Life is interesting only in that folks can squint throughout the movie to catch any “Oh my god, we’re having an affair; does Dennis Quaid know?” type of exchange between Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe. Alas, no luck. I’m tempted to write off the affair as a massive publicity stunt. There’s no chemistry between them here, odd indeed.

Alice Bowman’s hubby is kidnapped by baddies while he is on some save the world, build a dam mission in some banana republic. Now Alice, who is not happy with her husband anyway, has to get professional negotiator Terry Thorne’s help to get three million dollars to ransom her hubby out and to ensure his safe return. But ooh, how can any woman resist the charm of a man who looks like Russell Crowe?

Proof of Life likes to think of itself as Casablanca meets Rambo but it is more of a standard charge-through-the-jungles story interspersed with some quiet moments of guilt and charming bonding between our two leads. But surprisingly, there’s no chemistry between both. Mr Crowe displays more spark with he’s with David Caruso (playing Thorne’s mercenary friend), but let’s not go there.

This is a decent movie. Nothing memorable, nothing too bad either.