THE would-be noir “Beyond a Rea sonable Doubt” has an absurd story, but on the plus side you can hardly see what’s going on because the photography is so murky.
Michael Douglas plays an evil Shreveport DA whom a crusading TV reporter (Jesse Metcalfe) is determined to expose for planting evidence. The reporter keeps saying he wants to win a Pulitzer for his story.
Aided by a goofy sidekick (Joel David Moore), the reporter decides he will plant circumstantial evidence on himself to indicate that he committed an unsolved murder, get himself picked up for drunken driving — then wait for the DA to manufacture evidence. At that point, the reporter thinks he will spring his little surprise on the jury and nail the DA.
It doesn’t occur to him that having photographs of himself, after the murder, buying a pair of sweatpants like the ones the killer wore won’t exonerate him, but then again he hasn’t figured out that TV reporting doesn’t qualify for a Pulitzer. What you won’t be able to figure out is why this laughable yarn didn’t go straight to DVD.
Running time: 105 minutes. Rated PG-13 (violence, sexual situations, profanity). At the Empire and the Loews Village VII.