FAKE MOVIE FRIDAY: Breakdown

Yet another night in which I’m in bed trying to get to sleep early and almost jump up to a start that I forgot it was Fake Movie Friday. Here comes number 49.

Breakdown

Movie starts with a montage playing with the opening credits. We see a woman talking to the camera breaking up with an unseen person, boss firing them, doctor telling them that they have cancer, insurance guy saying that his policy wouldn’t cover treatment, and a mail man saying he ran over his dog. We hear him scream as the title shows.

We cut to the exterior of a bank. A male teen locks up his bike. A 30-something woman is dropped off by a man who yells at her as he drives off. An elderly man walks slowly in the door grumbling as the teen pushes by him. A teen girl pushes a baby carriage inside. Inside an older man in a suit talks loudly into his Bluetooth rolling his eyes at the young mother.

They wait in line as the old man grumbles. The baby cries and the young girl tries fruitlessly to get it to stop. The businessman yells something as the 30-something woman jumps. The door sounds and in walks a grizzled looking man walks in. He takes out a gun and shoots the guard. The tellers hit alarms and run out the back hidden behind the glass. A few customers make a break for it but are also gunned down.

The man locks the door and our cast of characters is now stuck together. The man yells for them all to sit down on the ground. Outside we hear sirens and a phone rings. The hostage taker walks off to answer it and has a cliché conversation with the police.

His hostages and him start to talk as they learn he has a bomb strapped to him. They talk about why he is doing this and he tells them about what we saw in the opening montage. The male teen laughs. The man flips out but the teen gets up and yells back about he has problems too. He is 15, takes care of his little brother because his mom is a drug addict. He works a shitty job, making shit money and was just her to cash his check to buy his brother new shoes.

The elderly man talks about how his wife is dead and his kids don’t talk to him anymore. He was pushed out of his job after 35 years. He has nothing and is convinced his visiting nurse is stealing from him.

The teen cries about how she has a child to raise all on her own. The father ran off when he heard. She was kicked out of the house and doesn’t know what she is doing. The 30-something women talks about how she is barren. Her husband is a drunk and abusive, blaming her for not being able to give him sons. She goes home each night in fear of what he’ll do.

The businessman gets up and acts like an ass. He goes for the hostage taker and the two wrestle. The gun flies over to the 30-something and she picks it up and shoots the businessman. Everyone looks around shocked. The hostage taker grabs the gun back and calls the cops outside to say he shot a hostage.

He turns to the group and says he isn’t interested in money. He is planning to blow himself up. He doesn’t care anymore. They can leave if they want. Everyone hesitates. The old man says he isn’t going anywhere, as does the young mother. The 30 something takes the baby with her as she leaves with the teen. They step out the door and the cops converge. The bank blows up and in the confusion the 30-something gets into the businessman’s car and drives off with the kid. The teen is interviewed and called a hero by the media.

We cut to the woman and the baby in a beautiful house watching coverage of a news story about the teen, and how people have reached out to him and him and his brother are doing great. He tells the reporter something corny like “Sometimes you’re pushed to the very edge. You jump off or turn around and return to a better place”

THE END

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