Plot too simple in Return to Paradise

Judging from the trailers and posters outside the Apollo, one might very well presume that Return to Paradise is one of those "triumph of the human spirit" films filled with heart-rending scenes set in a third world prison with stomach turning physical abuse. Don't be fooled, though the director tries his darndest to maintain that illusion.

Sheriff (Vince Vaughn, of Swingers ), Tony ( David Conrad), and Lewis McBride (Joaquin Phoenix) are three young men who figured they'd augment their trip to Malaysia with a little hash. Well, actually a lot of hash. Sheriff and Tony made it home and Lewis got caught. Local law says that the amount of hash that Joaquin had on him warrants a good hanging.

So, a couple years later, after the sentence but before the execution, Anne Heche, playing Lewis' lawyer, shows up in New York to convince Tony and Sheriff to come on back to Malaysia and claim their share of the hash. Because, if you only have a third of the amount Lewis is blamed for, than instead of the rope, you only get three years. However, if only one of the two goes back, than the sentence only goes down to 6 years.

So much for triumph of the human spirit: this movie is really yet another coming of age story, but this time about someone who, frankly, should already have come of age. Sheriff turns out to be a big schmukus who learns, over the course of the film that being a big schmukus sucks and that (Oh dear) all you need is love. Sounds too trite to be true, but it is.

The movie is carried, and pretty well, by a competent cast and a bright director. They did in fact find a pretty cool third world prison, and Joseph Ruben maintains his ruse of a spirit-triumph by interspersing the drama in New York with some scenes of Lewis in jail. For folks who never feel like they've been told enough that they should grow up, this is a great film. For everyone else, the drama does its job quite well, and when it doesn't, there are some great shots of Hong Kong and Thailand.