It’s just like any other day on the busy FDR Drive in New York until Gavin Banek (Ben Affleck) has a fender bender with Doyle Gipson (Samuel L. Jackson). Late to court Banek leaves the scene telling Gipson, “Better luck next time.” This brief moment triggers a chain of events that begins to destroy the lives of both men.

Gipson, left stranded on the highway, is late to divorce court. This decides the fate of his children, who are turned over to his wife. At the scene of the accident that made him late to court, he picks up a file that Banek had dropped.

From this point on, these two strangers face off, attempting to destroy each other in a constant ride of suspense.

Gipson holds the power with the file, which he threatens to destroy, but Banek hacks into Gipson’s finances and causes him to go bankrupt.

This film is filled with a continuing theme of morals, or lack thereof. It shows how society survives on the unspoken laws of courtesy. Once these two men disregard each other as people, and only care about their own needs, things only get worse. It is a downward spiral of one wrong deed in turn for another until it seems as if there is no hope for either character. They each hit rock bottom.

Jackson and Affleck were exceptional. They played their roles to perfection. A lawyer torn by moral issues and an insurance salesman recovering from alcoholism who just wants his family back.

Affleck said that this role made him think more than some of his previous ones. It is an extremely personal film that develops both characters very deeply.–the audience learns to feel what they feel.

The moral issues that display themselves don’t seem black and white, considering what these two men are facing.

The plot of this film is well scripted. It demonstrates how two men who don’t even know each other can become entwined by a single event. In this case, the ensuing 24 hours are a roller coaster of events as the two lives unravel on the screen.

Changing Lanes is now playing in theaters everywhere.