Changing Lanes

About Changing Lanes

Changing Lanes is a 2002 drama/thriller film directed by Roger Michell. The movie was a box-office success; with a budget of US$45,000,000, it grossed $66,818,548 in the United States and $28,117,216 outside the US, with a total gross of $94,935,764.

A successful New York attorney, Gavin Banek (Ben Affleck), is in a rush to file a power of appointment, which will prove a dying old man signed his foundation over to Banek's law firm. He has a collision with another car, belonging to an insurance salesman, Doyle Gibson (Samuel L. Jackson). He is also in a rush to a hearing to try to gain custody of his children and to prevent his estranged wife from taking them to Oregon. Banek tries to brush Gibson off with a blank check thereby disobeying the law. After Gibson refuses to accept the check and voices his desire to "do the right thing", that is, filing a police report and insurance claim, Banek strands Gibson, telling him, "better luck next time." After arriving to the court late, Gibson learns that it proceeded without him and that it didn't go in his favor.

Unfortunately for Banek, he dropped the crucial power of appointment file at the scene of the accident, and the judge gives him until the end of the day to re-obtain the papers and present them. Gibson, who took the papers, has no intention of returning them, and in desperation, Banek goes to someone skilled with computers and gets him to switch off Gibson's credit. Gibson needed credit for a loan so he could buy a house for his family, and he becomes further enraged, determined to make life difficult for Banek.