Nevertheless, what would’ve been a totally disposable, “2 p.m. on a lazy Sunday on HBO” movie becomes moderately watchable thanks to Al Pacino’s lunatic lead performance.
From his zany haircut to his flair for the dramatic, Pacino isn’t going to let this weirdly sleepy movie fall to the waist-side without him giving everything he’s got.
The premise itself is decent enough: a college professor (and part-time forensic psychologist?) gets a call saying that he has only 88 minutes to live.
Unfortunately, with the plot’s over-reliance on red herrings and flimsy character work, 88 Minutes isn’t a breezy watch.