Best friends Alice and Darlene take a trip to Thailand after graduating high school. In Thailand, they meet a captivating Australian man, who calls himself Nick Parks. Darlene is particularly smitten with Nick and convinces Alice to take Nick up on his offer to treat the two of them to what amounts to a day trip to Hong Kong. In the airport, the girls are seized by the police and shocked to discover that one of their bags contains heroin.

Credits: TheMovieDb.

Film Cast:

• Alice Marano: Claire Danes
• Darlene Davis: Kate Beckinsale
• Hank Greene: Bill Pullman
• Yon Greene: Jacqueline Kim
• Roy Knox: Lou Diamond Phillips
• Nick Parks: Daniel Lapaine
• Doug Davis: Tom Amandes
• Beth Ann Gardener: Aimee Graham
• Bill Marano: John Doe
• Chief Detective Jagkrit: Lim Kay Tong
• Guard Velie: Beulah Quo
• Mary: Maya Goodwin
• Ferg: Chad Todhunter
• Jason: Paul Walker
• Leon Smith: Harry Northup
• English Prisoner: Amanda de Cadenet
• Jamaican Prisoner: Bahni Turpin
• Emissary to Crown: Henry O
• Prisoner Shub: Intira Jaroenpura
• Old Prisoner: Lilia Cuntapay
• Lori Davis: Lori Lethin
• Heidi Davis: Hayley Jannielli
• Bellhop: Victor Neri
• Security: Ronnie Lazaro
• Paku: Ermie Concepcion
• Lt. Tung: Val Victa
• Sgt. Choy: Sahajak Boonthanakit
• Attorney Montree: Joonee Gamboa

Film Crew:

• Screenstory: Adam Fields
• Director: Jonathan Kaplan
• Production Manager: A. Kitman Ho
• Screenstory: David Arata
• Production Design: James William Newport
• Set Decoration: Peter Walpole
• Set Decoration: William Kemper Wright
• Key Makeup Artist: Felicity Bowring
• Art Direction: Roy Lachica
• Original Music Composer: David Newman
• Art Direction: Neil Lamont
• Editor: Curtiss Clayton
• Producer: Lope V. Juban Jr.
• Editor: Don Zimmerman
• Casting: Julie Selzer
• Director of Photography: Newton Thomas Sigel
• Costume Design: April Ferry
• Makeup Artist: Jane Galli
• Stunt Coordinator: Kerrie Cullen
• Stunt Coordinator: Tim A. Davison
• Stunt Double: Robin Lynn Bonaccorsi
• Stunts: Bobby Brown
• Stunts: George Cheung
• Stunts: Anita Hart
• Stunts: Kendel McMurray
• Stunts: Renato Morado
• First Assistant Director: Liz Ryan
• Second Assistant Director: Phil Hardage
• Music Supervisor: Jeff Carson
• Music Supervisor: Amanda Scheer-Demme
• Production Supervisor: Thomas Hayslip
• “B” Camera Operator: Bob Gorelick
• First Assistant Camera: Erik L. Brown
• First Assistant “B” Camera: Jimmy E. Jensen
• Second Assistant Camera: Daniel Delina
• Second Assistant “B” Camera: Bernardo Gabilo
• Still Photographer: Frank Connor
• Property Master: Arthur Shippee
• Art Department Coordinator: Danilet Poblete
• Set Designer: Roger Bowles
• Set Designer: Peter Francis
• Set Designer: Daniel Fernández
• Storyboard Artist: Peg McClellan
• Construction Coordinator: Tony Graysmark
• Construction Foreman: Paul J. Hayes
• Sound Mixer: John Midgley
• Boom Operator: June Prinz
• Gaffer: Anthony G. Nakonechnyj
• Electrician: Julian Baltonado
• Electrician: Joey Dinn
• Rigging Gaffer: Geoff Shotz
• Key Grip: David L. Merrill
• Best Boy Grip: Bill Summers
• Dolly Grip: William D. Wynn
• Grip: Raldo Rey
• Grip: Lito Moya
• Costume Supervisor: Donna Berwick
• Key Costumer: Eileen McCahill
• Key Hair Stylist: Suzanne Stokes-Munton
• Hairstylist: Petra Schaumann
• Makeup Artist: Erica Rosenast
• Makeup & Hair: Teresa Villaflor
• Location Manager: Pat Yuseco
• Assistant Location Manager: Joseph Santos
• Production Accountant: Anne C. Ford
• Production Coordinator: Dawn Murphy Riley
• Script Supervisor: Lou Ann Quast
• Casting Associate: Lauris Freeman
• Supervising Sound Editor: Sandy Berman
• Supervising Sound Editor: John A. Larsen
• Assistant Sound Editor: Meredith Gold
• Assistant Sound Editor: Blake R. Cornett
• Assistant Sound Editor: Paul Apted
• Assistant Sound Editor: David Burk
• Assistant Sound Editor: Steven Gerrior
• Sound Re-Recording Mixer: James Bolt
• Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Andy Nelson
• Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Anna Behlmer
• Sound Recordist: Tim Gomillion
• Sound Recordist: Daniel Goss
• Sound Effects Editor: Chuck Michael
• Sound Effects Editor: Jay Wilkinson
• Dialogue Editor: Dave Kulczycki
• ADR Supervisor: Jerelyn J. Harding
• ADR Editor: Donald Sylvester
• Foley Supervisor: Mark Pappas
• Foley Editor: Ted Caplan
• Foley Recordist: Carrie Cashman
• Foley Mixer: David Betancourt
• Music Editor: Tom Villano
• ADR Mixer: Charleen Richards-Steeves
• ADR Mixer: Greg Steele
• Orchestrator: Alexander Janko
• Additional Editing: Glenn Farr
• First Assistant Editor: Amy E. Duddleston
• Assistant Editor: Dan Zimmerman
• First Assistant Editor: Gena Bleier
• First Assistant Editor: Scott Hill
• Assistant Editor: Dean Zimmerman
• Assistant Editor: Heather Hughes
• Assistant Editor: Jessica Landaw
• Visual Effects Supervisor: Rich Thorne
• Visual Effects Supervisor: Erik Henry
• Visual Effects Producer: Sharon Holly
• Negative Cutter: Gary Burritt
• Color Timer: Dale Caldwell
• Dialogue Editor: Susan Dawes
• Special Effects Coordinator: Lee Alan McConnell

Movie Reviews:

• John Chard: That’s all freedom is… an illusion.
• Two carefree teenage girls are jailed in Thailand for allegedly smuggling Heroin while on vacation.
• It has become the stuff of reality nightmares, seemingly every year there is the reports of foreigners abroad caught smuggling drugs. Quite often the innocence is starkly protested, claims of being duped or threatened into being drug mules through customs borders. Brokedown Palace is an interpretation of one such instance.
• There’s a viable complaint about the film that it condenses the harsh realities of the surroundings, this “Brokedown Palace” is not portrayed as the dirty hell holes they so often are in reality. This initially gives the film a sort of false feel, that we are being fed a watered down Hollywood production of something very serious.
• However, looking deeper into the picture as a character piece, Jonathan Kaplan’s film beats a mighty heart and has brain staying power as well. Claire Danes and Kate Beckinsale (both superb) are the two friends at the centre of this mystery. Story is more concerned with how their friendship copes under the trying circumstances. Through the initial shock of their situation, to the faux trial, the interactions with others and the relationship they have with their American lawyer, Hank the Yank (Bill Pullman). There’s also the not small matter that one of the girls might actually be guilty as charged? Which really gives the piece an intriguing kick.
• Unfortunately it falls down in other areas. How come the girls are perfectly coiffured? Quite often splendidly attired in cosmetics? As Kaplan strains for authenticity in human interactions, he loses credibility elsewhere because these two girls look like actors who have had a “don’t make me look ugly” clause inserted into their contracts. Ultimately when the story is dialled into the two girls and their friendship, Brokedown Palace hits the heights required, elsewhere it’s a disappointment and it’s not hard to understand why the two lead actresses practically disowned the film shortly after their publicity commitments were over. 6/10