13 Brilliant Plot Twists That Couldn't Quite Save Terrible Movies
12. Derailed - Jennifer Aniston Was In On It
The Twist: When Charles (Clive Owen) and Lucinda (Jennifer Aniston) finally consummate their affair, they are assaulted by LaRoche (Vincent Cassel). He subsequently blackmails Charles into paying him, lest his wife finds out about the affair.
With increasing payouts from Charles, he eventually goes to find Lucinda and discovers that she was in on the scam the whole time. While she acts as bait for a new target, Charles interrupts their schemes and both LaRoche and Lucinda are killed.
Why It Almost Saved The Movie: Without the twist, the entire film plays like a poor attempt at a thriller. With the twist, it’s still a poor attempt at a thriller but at least there’s a little more going on.
The entire structure of the film is very generic and Clive Owen never feels truly in danger. The twist can’t make up for any of that but it does its best to elevate the movie. It does make it slightly more than a run-of-the-mill thriller, adding a layer of depth to the characters and some intrigue to the story, even if it ultimately doesn’t save the movie as a whole.