Plot
A convict (Tommy Zelda, played by Tim Allen) is released from prison, and he has made a firm decision to stay clean, and never go back there again.
His sister (Viki Zelda, played by Sigourney Weaver) is willing to help him, provided that he keeps away from bad company and stays out of trouble.
He finds it hard to not fall back to his old ways, as his old crime partner waits for him at the corner to tempt him to continue doing fraudulent business together.
He is assigned to a probation officer (Angela Papadopolous, played by Jeanne Tripplehorn) who will give him a second chance to restart his father’s home painting business and stand on his feet again.
Help from family
Ex-convicts have a hard time getting used to being free again.
While they are in jail, the world doesn’t wait for them to get out, but it keeps going on without them.
This is perhaps the coldest realization that ex-prisoners have to come to terms with.
Help from family can go a long way and have the desired effect, even though family members have their own problems, biases, and lives to look after, too.
Tommy Zelda and his sister, Viki Zelda, seem to get on fairly well, in spite of Tommy’s criminal past and Viki’s so-called “white” lies.
In real life, violence and abuse are not uncommon between siblings in similar cases.
I guess the message that the movie wants to get across is that there is hope for people who really make an effort to leave their troubled past behind.
Some family members may be negative or ignorant, but family can play a crucial role in helping a family member with a criminal past get, and stay, on the right track.
Love issues
Prisoners have emotions like other people, and these emotions are more strongly affected in the realm of love relationships.
Even hardened criminals can be in love, and confinement behind bars can make these emotions more powerful and intense.
Tommy Zelda has the photos of his girlfriend (Christy, played by Julie Bowen) pinned on the wall of his prison cell.
Just by looking at them, he draws courage and strength to stand imprisonment.
When he goes out of prison, his sister tries to hide from him the fact that his girlfriend was not loyal to him.
This is a common scenario, where an ex-prisoner finds out the truth about the love affairs of a girlfriend or spouse while he was in prison.
Only true love can stand the test of time, and it takes a very strong and mature character to stay loyal, unlike a casual relationship that will end prematurely, as soon as a lover goes to jail.
Angela Papadopolous, on the other hand, is a single mother, and she is woman that is much harder to get.
She is Tommy’s probation officer, so their relationship is at another level, and more formal, to say.
However, she is more of a hard nut with a soft center.
Once Tommy manages to earn her trust, she slowly opens up her heart to him, but he really has to prove that he is worth her trust, before she commits to a serious relationship with him, which makes everyone happy, including his sister, and her son (Ethan, played by Kenton Duty).
Rating: 8/100
