You think you know where all the moral dividing lines are in this car, but you don't because they keep shifting.

[A] banal hostage thriller.

A Day and a Half delivers an emotional story that plays with the viewer’s pre-conceived notions of a situation as it draws them into its moving and intricate narrative.

But, like so much about A Day and a Half, the story and characters defy expectations, and each revelation to the characters and the story is as satisfying as it is entertaining, showing that action movies really don't have to be so typically mindless.