September 6, 1998 -- "Back to Paradise" is an oddity in today's movie market. It is a quiet, thoughtful movie about hard moral choices, truth, love, accountability, crime, punishment and friendship.

The man, Lewis McBride, the most blameless of the three, takes the fall for what the other two did without implicating them, but when his appeals run out and he only has a week left to live, he accepts a deal that would release him if one or both of his friends would return to Malaysia to accept their share of the blame.

McBride's attorney, Beth Eastern, (Anne Heche of "6 Days and 7 Nights" and "Wag the Dog") returns to New York to persuade Lewis' two friends to return to face from three to six years in prison. If one returns, it is six years, if two return, it is three years for each of the two men.

One of McBride's friends, John "Sheriff" Volgecherev (Vince Vaughn), is immediately suspicious of the whole idea and doesn't trust Eastern. He seems to reject the idea out of hand. The other friend, Tony, (David Conrad) is about to be married and seems to have his whole life in front of him, yet he agrees to go if the other friend, John will return to Malaysia with him, reducing the sentence to three years.

If this seems pretty straightforward, it isn't. The plot is much more complicated than that. The relationship between these four characters is dynamic and there are some surprising developments. Both John and Tony do some serious soul searching and Eastern's role in the lives of all three men becomes much more complicated.

While I didn't much care for the way the movie ended, and the way a particular newspaper reporter was portrayed (the only really shallow, unthinking character in the film), and the way many scenes seemed poorly lit (or maybe the projector light was weak) the film is quite good. It is serious, contemplative and well-written, acted and directed for the most part. It held my interest to the end. It rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy this movie in video and/or DVD format, the soundtrack, books, even used videos, games and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.