Diverted

Diverted details the chaos that ensues after 38 planes heading to New York City on September 11, 2001 are rerouted to Gander, Newfoundland, with the film primarily detailing the ongoing exploits of several British passengers and a handful of the city’s residents. There’s little doubt that Diverted, despite the inherently compelling nature of its premise, never quite becomes anything more than a mildly watchable movie-of-the-week, as the film has been infused with a decidedly pedestrian sensibility that’s reflected in virtually all of its attributes – with the simplistic portrayal of the various protagonists undoubtedly ranking high on the movie’s list of less-than-enthralling elements. It’s subsequently not surprising to note that the talented cast is simply unable to breathe any real life into these uniformly underwritten characters, which ensures that personable performers like Joanne Whalley, David Suchet, and Shawn Ashmore find themselves forced to participate in a series of almost eye-rollingly hackneyed situations and scenarios. (This is especially true of Ashmore’s Mike Stiven, as the character’s romance with a passenger would seem over-the-top in even the silliest of romcoms.) The decision to bog down what could have been a pleasant slice-of-life comedy with needless instances of melodrama effectively cements Diverted‘s place as a passable misfire, and it ultimately does seem as though the material – and the actors – deserved a lot better than this.

** out of ****