Fried Green Death

The director of **Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle Stop Caf * hooking up with the star of Scent Of A Woman… How could the result be anything less than a knuckle-whitening, pulse-quickening thrill ride? Well, Al Pacino and Jon Avnet might not be names you’d readily associate with high-concept popcorn flicks, but their new project threatens to be just that. Scripted by The Fast And The Furious writer Gary Thompson, 88 Minutes will tell the tale of a college professor, played by Pacino, who pulls down a second job — as forensic psychiatrist for the FBI. The perk of picking up dual paychecks wears thin, however, when he is informed that he has exactly 88 minutes left to live. Rather than finishing off the last couple of episodes on his Seinfeld box set or hiding under his desk, the professor embarks on a mission to track down his enemies and save his life. Wiith a 24 movie in an early stage of development, could this be Pacino’s attempt to out-Bauer Bauer? With that time-specific title, it would be a bit of a surprise if 88 Minutes doesn’t jump onto the real-time bandwagon. Which, so long as it’s a hell of a lot better than Nick Of Time, sounds good to us.