Review of Spinning Man

The story here hinges on the difference between the truth and one's interpretation of the truth. As a linguistics professor in the philosophy of language, Evan Birch (Guy Pearce) gets tangled up in a web of deceit that overcomes his rational thought to such a degree that by the end of the picture, he's confessing to a homicide he didn't commit. I think that's what ends up being the most frustrating part of the picture, because up until then, the screenplay revealed various deficits in the character of the professor that his wife (Minnie Driver) took great pains to overlook. Having moved on from a teacher/student affair from five years earlier, the couple agreed to set aside his indiscretion until more recent events signaled that Birch might have been directly responsible in the death of a female college student from his campus. Investigating the death, Detective Malloy (Pierce Brosnan) discovers circumstantial evidence that to the viewer would seem to implicate Birch as being guilty, while also leaving a lingering suspicion that the case wouldn't be so cut and dry. What wasn't explained and left dangling was why Birch's daughter (Eliza Pryor) denied knowing him to a policeman as she walked away from a leisurely outing. Thrown into the middle of the story like that, it just didn't make much sense at all, and still doesn't after the fact. The only conclusion one can make after Malloy explains the accident that led to the death of Joyce Bonner (Odeya Rush) is that Birch was a predator who didn't get caught, and that he would probably seek out student victims again given the opportunity. I don't think he had as much difficulty discerning the truth about a situation as the story line would lead you to believe. Either that, or you'd have to take the word of the secretary at the university office who stated - "Everybody here is nuts".