While She Was Out (2008)

Waste of time

Too much of everything

Such a frustrating disappointment

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Good movie, i don't understand why the bad reviews. There are hellva lot of worse movies out there and with a wayyyy larger budget. People are so use to thugs being actual thugs. But these guys weren't thugs, they were just kids out being stupid. Then a real stupid accident happened and suddenly there was no turning back. They had one choice. And for those who can understand Kim's character? Then you haven't tired to understand a person living in a home with a verbally and physically abusive spouse. Think about how she never even spoke about her husband or her relationship when met an old girlfriend from her past.

Della (a still youthful Kim Basinger) is a downtrodden home-maker with young children and a domineering husband. She ducks out to the mall on Christmas Eve to buy some wrapping paper. Unable to find a parking space she leaves a stern note on the windscreen of an inconsiderate driver who has occupied two spaces.When she leaves the mall the parking lot is empty except for the car she had left the note on. It turns out to be a group of thugs looking for trouble. They shoot a security guard who intervenes and Della speeds off; pursued by the gang of thugs who want to get rid of the witness.She crashes her car and hides, grabbing a red toolbox. As the gang chase her through building sites and forest she knocks them off one-by-one with different tools from the red toolbox.The surviving gang members get spooked, deciding that she had a taste for blood.This was a strange movie but in a wonderful way; Kim Basinger is like a deer caught in the headlights but wants to survive for her children, and she gets better and better at dispatching the gang members.When she gets home she is no longer scared of her nasty husband and the ending leaves it pretty clear that he is dead meat.This movie is very entertaining, and Kim Basinger is wonderful as the meek and mild housewife who becomes a ruthless killer.If you get the chance to, see it!

The genre of suspense films really takes a dive in this one. The big problem is IMPLAUSABILITY. I realize that you need to create difficult situations which would cause suspense and the tense feeling of whats going to happen next, but this movie was so predictable, and is just not believable. I find that the more I watch this kind of movie, the more I am continually saying things to actors to direct them away from danger. Continually making bad decisions just borders on being plain stupid. If they took the time to make it more realistic, I might have enjoyed it a little. Having said that, you might be better off staying away from this one.

I don't often give one star reviews, but the computer won't let me do negative numbers.The opening titles tell us we're in deep water already. Although this is a low budget exploitation film, there are 17 producers credited. No. No.At the beginning of the story abusive husband Kenneth comes home to his family in an upscale gated community. The house is a pigsty. His wife, Della (Kim Basinger) has let the children run amok all day.OK. We're already in deep water. Ms. Basinger was 55 years old when the film came out. Uh, are these her children or grandchildren? It's Christmas Eve. Della drives to the mall, a lengthy scene that could have been cut. To bludgeon home the idea of eeeeeeevil male aggression rampant in the universe she drives past football players in full uniform playing in pouring rain on Christmas Eve. Sure. For a bonus she sees a vehicle with a slaughtered deer tied to it.We get some actual suspense in the driving scenes, though. It's raining and traffic is bad. First we see Della try to drive and smoke at the same time. Then later Della tries to drive and talk on her cell phone at the same time, at one point turning completely around to check the cluttered back seat for the charger for the phone.She wanders the mall, sees an old friend from college, tries to buy stuff but her credit card is declined- gosh, maybe her husband is grumpy because he's going broke, but that's too complicated for the script to follow.In the parking lot she runs afoul of the most ludicrous gang in the history of films. One White boy (Lukas Hass watching his career go down the toilet), one Black, one Asian, and one Hispanic. Imagine a company of Up with People gone to the bad and you'll have the idea.Although they have a gun she gives them attitude. A mall cop comes to investigate the ruckus and they shoot him in the head, firing more than once. The parking lot is crowded as can be, people everywhere, and nobody notices.Della escapes in her car and rather than choosing a police station or well lighted safe area, she drives to a construction site, where she kills all four bad boys one at a time with simply the tools (literally) at hand.MAJOR spoiler ahead.She drives back home. The car poops out so she walks through the pouring rain. Checks on the children, goes downstairs, and when her husband petulantly asks what she got him at the mall shows him the gun and shoots him at point blank range.The experience with the four punks was supposed to result in personal empowerment for Della. Instead we know that her children will probably spend Christmas in foster care or a group home, because the State will collect them while she answers to murder one charges. The four punks can be classified as justifiable homicide in self defense. The husband, different story.I'm so glad I saw this on cable. If I'd seen it in a theater (did it get any release?) I'd have been furious. As is, I'm just sad seeing talents like Ms. Basinger and Mr. Haas waste themselves on garbage like this.One very good thing, though. This was written and directed by Susan Montford. Ms. Montford has not gotten another writing or directing credit since passing this turd. There is justice in the world.