Return to Paradise 1998, Rated R Polygram Home Video

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Starring Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, et al. Released to DVD on January 19, 1999.

One of the most thought provoking moments in the last decade of cinema came in Air Force One, when Harrison Ford's character was asked by a terrorist to choose whether he wanted to save the life of his wife or his daughter. It's quite an interesting (and terrifically awful) situation to be placed in for sure. The plot of Return to Paradise is based squarely on the heels of a similar thought-provoking dilemma. While living in Thailand together, three friends John, Lewis and Tony (Vince Vaughn, Joaquin Phoenix and David Conrad) purchased a pound of marijuana to smoke during John and Tony's farewell party. After returning to the states, John and Tony learn that the Thai police caught Lewis with all the pot and are going to execute him for being a drug dealer unless one or both of them goes back and acknowledges that part of the marijuana is theirs. And thus the rest of the film is spent with John and Tony debating about what to do. This was superficially intriguing, but when played out over the course of two hours, the inherent interest in this material began to wane.