History Film / DoubleJeopardy

A 1999 thriller directed by Bruce Beresford, starring Creator/AshleyJudd, Creator/BruceGreenwood, and Creator/TommyLeeJones.

** Not only that, cops are trained to detect whether or not a crime scene has been staged, as this one was. Proper police work would have saved Abby a lot of grief.

* ChekhovsGun: At the beginning of the movie, Nick is discussing a Kandinsky artwork with a houseguest. The identical work is visible in a picture of the house destroyed in the gas explosion and Libby tracks the buyer of one of Nick's collection of Kandinskys to find Nick in New Orleans.

* AxCrazy: Nick, who is mostly cool and a con artist, but he commits multiple crimes that no sane or self-morally respecting person would even think of in the heat of the moment. Played straight [[spoiler:when he shoots and aggressively attacks Lehman at the end]].

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: The film states that the double jeopardy defense prevents a person from being tried twice for the same crime. However, this is a poor oversimplification and ultimately incorrect. Double Jeopardy is the defense that an accused person cannot be prosecuted for the same ''charges'', meaning that the facts of the case '''must''' be the same, so she could not be charged again for Nick's murder on the boat. In truth, she would definitely be prosecuted for [[spoiler:Nick's murder in the hotel, because that is a different set of facts. Possibly the same crime (first degree murder), but the murder at the beginning of the movie and the murder at the end of the movie are two different events]].

* AxCrazy: Nick, who is mostly cool and a con artist, but he commits multiple crimes that no sane or self-morally respecting person would even think of in the heat of the moment. Played straight [[spoiler:when he shoots and aggressively attacks Lehman at the end.]]
* BaitAndSwitch: Nick and Libby are snuggling outside when Angie comes to join them. She and Nick exchange a look, then solemnly declare, "We should tell her before someone else does", almost making the viewer think they're about to confess to an affair. . . only to have it turn out that Nick bought Libby a boat and that Angie was helping him arrange the surprise. Then it's subverted in that it's just as we expected--they WERE having an affair and those furtive looks were about them putting their dastardly plan into action.
* BaitAndSwitchGunshot: Nick is about to shoot Lehman for a second time and finish him off when Libby manages to grab her own gun and put several bullets into him.
* BetterManhandleTheMurderWeapon: A post-coital Libby wakes up covered in blood. She follows the trail from their cabin to the deck of the boat, and of course, picks up the bloody knife that she finds there. Sure enough, the Coast Guard appears right then, with Libby looking exactly as how Nick wanted her to look--as though she just stabbed him and threw his body overboard.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Angie acts as Libby's best friend and even "reluctantly" agrees to adopt Matty (supposedly not wanting to replace Libby as his mother) when the whole time, she's been having an affair with Nick and planning to run off with him after framing Libby for murder.

** When confronted by Libby, Nick feebly claims that he faked his death to avoid his creditors and didn't intend for her to be convicted, that his relationship with Angie happened afterwards, and that her death was an accident, but she isn't buying it.

* TheBluebeard: Nick. Gets rid of one woman by framing her for murder and sending her to prison, then tries to kill her when she gets out and tracks him down. Kills another when he either gets bored with her or worried that she'll spill the beans.
* BondVillainStupidity: Rather than just kill Libby, Nick knocks her unconscious and shuts her in a coffin, and helpfully also leaves her with a gun and a lighter, thus risking her waking up and escaping, which is exactly what she does.
* BuriedAlive: How Nick tries to get rid of Libby after she tracks him down.

* ChekhovsGun: At the beginning of the movie, Nick is discussing a Kandinsky artwork with a houseguest. The identical work is visible in a picture of the house destroyed in the gas explosion and Libby tracks the buyer of one of Nick’s collection of Kandinskys to find Nick in New Orleans.
* ChildrenAreInnocent: Matty blows the whole scheme with one word--"Daddy!"--cheerfully greeting his father as he returns home. At the end, he is remarkably calm to be greeted by a mother he not only hasn't seen in six years, but was told was dead.
* ClearMyName: Libby, regarding her husband. Not only did she not kill him, he's not even dead.
* ConvenientlyTimedAttackFromBehind: [[spoiler: Nick grabs her and knocks her out (during the cemetery scene), where he had said she'd meet their son. Nick is also about to shoot her when Lehman manages to get up and jump on him]].

* DisposableWoman: Angie, almost literally. Nick kills her very soon after running off with her now that she's served her purpose of helping him pull off his scheme.

* FakingTheDead: Nick. And Lehman and Libby threaten to pull the same stunt on Nick, regarding ''her'', if he does not turn over their son.
** Nick has already been doing this with Libby--when she and Matty are reunited at the end, he tells her that he was told that she was dead.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Even if the trailer hadn't already told you everything, the little look exchanged between Nick and Angie just before he reveals that he bought Libby a boat should tip off even the most GenreBlind viewer to the fact that something's going on between them (one of the few things that ''was'' left out of the trailer).

** As is par for the course with TV and movies, Libby testifies at her trial. While not forbidden, even the worst defense attorney knows that this is a bad idea. Sure enough, Libby runs into trouble when despite her truthful pleas of innocence, she can't offer any explanation as to Nick's death--which is yet another example of this trope. It's not the defense's job to prove the accused's innocence, just to offer reasonable doubt as to guilt.

* IdiotBall: Nick attempts to kill Libby by burying her alive in an above ground tomb, and he doesn't take away her gun, although in all fairness, he might not have remembered that she had one. Libby counts too, for trusting Nick during the whole cemetery scene. Of course, she was desperate to see her son, but still. The irony of this is that she asked him to meet her in a public place to no doubt deter him from doing anything to her, only to fall into his trap anyway.

* ItsAlwaysMardiGrasInNewOrleans: Not specifically stated, but Libby crashes a charity gala then later walks through one of New Orleans' perpetual street parties. Presumably, both are being held to celebrate the holiday.
** She outright says to Nick, "I could shoot you in the middle of Mardi Gras. . .", indicating that it ''is'' that time of the year.

* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: How Nick got rid of Angie. After tracking them down, Libby is informed by a neighbor that she was killed when a gas main exploded beneath the home. Libby's deadpan response of "I'm sure" when the woman tells her how grief-stricken Nick was makes it clear that she knows what really happened.

* MiscarriageOfJustice: Ashley Judd's character is wrongly convicted of murdering her husband and spends several years in prison.

* OnlyAFleshWound: Lehman is shot in the shoulder in the scuffle between him, Nick, and Libby, but true to form, is wearing only a sling in the final scene.
* PrisonsAreGymnasiums: Ashley Judd (!) may not bulk up all that much, but she TookALevelInBadass -- understandable since she's gaining skilz with which to murder the husband who framed her.

* TheSociopath: Nick, who has ZERO remorse or empathy and saw everyone in his life as nothing. He discards and frames his wife for his murder so he can use their insurance to get out of financial debt, kills his mistress who helped him with the scheme sometime later, is a smooth liar and con artist, and tries to kill Libby and a law enforcement officer to get away with his crimes. Also sent his "son" to a boarding school hundreds of miles away, showing he only cared about using him for the insurance.

* SteelEarDrums: Played straight to a ''ridiculous'' level. Libby fires a gun TWICE--right next to her ear--while trapped inside a sealed coffin. She cringed in pain momentarily, but is otherwise unharmed. In real life she'd have been left completely deaf.
* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: Probably one of the most glaring examples.

* WhamLine[=/=]TheReveal: Matty cheerfully greeting "Daddy!" as he comes home. ..while on the phone with Libby. It takes two seconds for the shocked Libby to realize that the beloved husband she's been mourning is a duplicitous bastard who's been cheating on her and framed her for a murder that didn't even happen.
* WrongfulAccusationInsurance: As discussed above, Libby commits numerous crimes in the course of tracking down her husband, whom she's planning to kill (and DOES kill, albeit by that point, it was a genuine case of self-defense rather than a revenge killing), all of which appear to have been completely disregarded by the time the film ends. Granted, it would be possible for her to plead out in exchange for time-served credit.

* AxCrazy: Nick, who is mostly cool and a con artist, but he commits multiple crimes that no sane or self-morally respecting person would even think of in the heat of the moment. Played straight[[spoiler:when he shoots and aggressively attacks Lehman at the end.]]

* AxCrazy: Nick, who is mostly cool and a con artist, but he commits multiple crimes that no sane or self-morally respecting person would even think of in the heat of the moment. Played straight [[spoiler:when he shoots and aggressively attacks Lehman at the end.]]

* TheSociopath: Nick, who has ZERO remorse or empathy and saw everyone as nothing. He discards and frames his wife for his murder so he can use their insurance to get out of financial debt, kills his mistress who helped him with the scheme sometime later, is a smooth liar and con artist, and tries to kill Libby and a law enforcement officer to get away with his crimes. Also sent his "son" to a boarding school hundreds of miles away, showing he only cared about using him for the insurance.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Libby's lawyer stuns her by telling her that Nick was in financial straits and that several investors were suing him for embezzlement.

* ShoutOut: Roma Maffia (jailed lawyer Margaret) played another lawyer in ''{{Film/Disclosure}}''.

* TheBigEasy: The entire third act takes place in New Orleans, showing off as much of it as the film can squeeze in 30 minutes.

* YourCheatingHeart:
--> "How long were Angie and you fucking before you decided to get rid of me?"

* ChekhovsGun: At the beginning of the movie, Nick is discussing a Kandinsky print with a houseguest. The identical print is visible in a picture of the house destroyed in the gas explosion and Libby tracks the buyer of a replica to find Nick in New Orleans.

Libby is sent to jail to begin her sentence and she entrusts a friend with taking care of Matty. While in prison she discovers that Nick is actually alive and well, and that he framed her for murder. A fellow inmate advises Libby that if he really is alive, she should wait until she is paroled and then kill him for real, and no court could convict her because of the legal concept of double jeopardy: as she has already been convicted of killing Nick, she cannot be tried twice for the same crime.