Break Up (1998)

After her abusive husband (Hart Bochner) has pushed her down the stairs, a battered wife (Bridget Fonda) ends up in a hospital. When her husband's body turns up burnt to a crisp in a crash, she becomes the primary suspect. But she suspects her husband is alive and faked his own death and it becomes a race against time to prove it while the police hunt her down. Directed by Paul Marcus, the film is very reminiscent of another battered wife on the run thriller, SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY (1991) but it's not as good. It's the kind of movie where we're always one step ahead of the characters which encourages talking back to the movie: "If you get out of that car, he's going to run you over, bitch!", "Don't trust her, she's screwing your husband!", etc. On the plus side, there's a solid performance by Bridget Fonda at the center and some of the supporting performances are good too including Tippi Hedren, who has a nice turn as Fonda's addled religious fanatic mother. I also liked the film's final coda. With Kiefer Sutherland as the caring cop who believes in her innocence, Steven Weber, Penelope Ann Miller and Leslie Stefanson.