First released in 2012, Worth is a film about a hostage situation.

Ugh.

Listen, I’m just going to be honest with you here.  With a few obvious exceptions (i.e., Dog Day Afternoon), I am not a huge fan of films about hostage situations.  It doesn’t matter how talented the cast may be or how much the director tries to keep things interesting.  Usually, as soon as the hostage taker pulls that gun and yells, “Nobody move!,” whatever narrative momentum that the film may have had going comes to a screeching halt and thing proceed to get very stagey.  The audience is expected to sit through at least 90 minutes of wailing hostages, feverish monologues, and Stockholm syndrome.  And, of course, we can’t forget the SWAT team threatening to kill both the hostage taker and the hostages while a harried negotiator tries to bring everything to a peaceful solution.  It’s all very predictable and usually a bit tedious to sit through.

Worth is also a film about alcoholics so double ugh.  I’m not a huge fan of alcoholics or films where people spend all of their time giving speeches about why they started drinking and what happened to make them hit rock bottom.  Don’t get me wrong.  There’s been a lot of great films made about alcoholism but there’s also been a lot of films that seem to exist to remind us of just how whiny alcoholics can be.  Mixing alcoholics and hostages is rarely a good thing.

On the plus side, Worth has got Eric Roberts in it.  No, Roberts does not play the hostage taker.  Nor does he play one of the hostages.  Roberts ends up with the unenviable task of having to negotiate with the hostage taker.  Eric Roberts’s role is not a big one.  One gets the feeling that it probably took two days (maybe three) for him to shoot all of his scenes.  Still, his role here is bigger (and more important) than his role in Amityville Death House.

Worth’s main character is Johnny St. James (Jeffrey Johnson), a former seminarian who ended up becoming a cop.  Ten years ago, Johnny’s pregnant wife was killed by a drunk driver and Johnny himself has been an alcoholic ever since.  Johnny is finally ready to attend his first AA meeting and his friend and partner, Hickey (Eric Roberts), tags along for moral support.  While Johnny is inside the church for the meeting, Hickey is the one who waits in the car and calls into headquarters and tells the chief that Johnny’s at an emergency dental appointment.

Unfortunately, Johnny discovers that the AA meeting is being led by Earl (Vincent Irizarry), the man who was driving the car that struck and killed Johnny’s wife.  Earl did several years in prison and became a minister during his time behind bars.  Earl may not recognize Johnny but Johnny automatically knows who Earl is.  Johnny sits in the back of the church, listening as the other members of the group give their testimony.  After listening to Chad (Corey Feldman) talk about how difficult it is to be sober, Johnny snaps, pull out his gun, and — ugh — the hostage situation begins.

The movie starts out well, with both Eric Roberts and Vincent Irizarry offering up strong supporting performances.  I mean, even Corey Feldman isn’t that bad.  But as soon as Johnny pulls that gun and starts shouting and bullying everyone and barking out orders, the film turns into a bit of an endurance test.  There’s only so much time that someone can spend listening to one guy yell at people about not moving before mentally checking out.  Johnny traps himself in that church as soon as he pulls that gun but the film also traps itself by not leaving itself anywhere else to go.  Johnny has a tragic backstory and the film does share an important message about the power of forgiveness but Johnny himself was such an annoying character than even I wanted the SWAT team to storm the church and take that douchebag out.

Worth was no Dog Day Afternoon.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:

1. Star 80 (1983)
2. Blood Red (1989)
3. The Ambulance (1990)
4. The Lost Capone (1990)
5. Love, Cheat, & Steal (1993)
6. Love Is A Gun (1994)
7. Sensation (1994)
8. Dark Angel (1996)
9. Doctor Who (1996)
10. Most Wanted (1997)
11. Mr. Brightside (2004)
12. Six: The Mark Unleased (2004)
13. Hey You (2006)
14. In The Blink of an Eye (2009)
15. The Expendables (2010) 
16. Sharktopus (2010)
17. Deadline (2012)
18. Miss Atomic Bomb (2012)
19. Lovelace (2013)
20. Self-Storage (2013)
21. This Is Our Time (2013)
22. Inherent Vice (2014)
23. Road to the Open (2014)
24. Rumors of War (2014)
25. Amityville Death House (2015)
26. A Fatal Obsession (2015)
27. Stalked By My Doctor (2015)
28. Joker’s Poltergeist (2016)
29. Stalked By My Doctor: The Return (2016)
30. The Wrong Roommate (2016)
31. Stalked By My Doctor: Patient’s Revenge (2018)
32. Monster Island (2019)
33. Seven Deadly Sins (2019)
34. Stalked By My Doctor: A Sleepwalker’s Nightmare (2019)
35. The Wrong Mommy (2019)
36. Free Lunch Express (2020)
37. Her Deadly Groom (2020)
38. Top Gunner (2020)
39. Just What The Doctor Ordered (2021)
40. Killer Advice (2021)
41. The Poltergeist Diaries (2021)
42. My Dinner With Eric (2022)