Some reviews say that Beruit is Jon Hamm’s best performance on the big screen. Although I don’t agree with that statement, I will say that his performance is what made a rather boring and confusing story more interesting. He’s called in to negotiate a hostage exchange and his charisma alone makes his performance believable. Beruit (and pretty much any place in the middle East) is really an unstable environment to have a family, a job, or an extended vacation. There are so many different hands in the small cookie jar over there, so when something goes wrong, it is tough to figure out whose to blame and whose gonna clean up the mess. Those factors complicate everything and at some points I wonder what is going on and is there really a solution here. I did leave the theater wondering what would happen to the characters after the exchange because these things never go down as planned and bad things happen. Beruit won’t stick with me forever and it won’t win any awards, although it was a very interesting human interest story about doing the right thing at the wrong time in the wrong place. 7/10
Ten Stars or Less 