It was the perfect crime until she refused to be the perfect victim. Great promo line for this movie, right? Do you know what the “perfect crime” is? Well, it is the kidnapping of an eight year-old girl right from her own home. That part has been removed from all the ads because we just had a jury sentence David Westerfield to death. The studio execs are afraid you’ll get a case of the “vapors” and then storm their offices and carry them out nude. How can you be so insensitive? This is the year of child abductions and you make a movie about one?

Hey, didn’t we go through something similar a year ago with the September 11th thing? The movie people really do think they matter that much.

First of all, I would hardly call this the “perfect crime”. Kevin Bacon plays Joe, the head kidnapper. To start with, after the girl is taken by his assistant Marvin, Joe sticks around the house to hang out with the child’s mother. That would be Karen Jennings, played by Charlize Theron. Now how many kidnappers stay and show their face? This is supposed to prevent the family from calling the police. Well, it worked, so I’ll give up on that point. Besides, Joe has the hots for Karen, and is after a bit more than the ransom money, if you know what I mean.

But the real flaw is that the child is asthmatic. If this were the perfect crime, Joe would have researched it better. But beyond all that this is a pretty good “Lifetime For Women” movie.

About the only thing in common this storyline has with the Danielle Van Damm kidnapping is that both kids were taken from the home. Other than that, all I can think of is that both stories have some wife swapping. Okay, I’ll explain. Joe has a wife played by Courtney Love. While Joe is busy torturing and attempting to get in Karen’s pants, wife Courtney has tracked down Karen’s husband Will and they engage in their own set of mind and torture games.

I’ve got to admit, as unlikely as any of this is, it was a worthwhile twist. Great tension and great acting with scenes that you can’t figure out make for a very entertaining movie. If Karen kills Joe, what happens to her daughter? If husband Will snuffs Courtney Love (and wouldn’t we all like to do that?), where does that leave us? Meanwhile, Marvin has the little girl Abbey and she comes up with ideas of her own. By the way, this kid’s name is Dakota Fanning and she is fantastic in the role. There is a scene after the kidnapping where mother and daughter get together and you can feel the pain. It was hell to watch but that’s what movies are supposed to do to you sometimes.

“Trapped” at times feels like an S&M movie and that may bother some of you. But it is ultimately about people fighting back against the sickos and who can argue with that idea? I give it a “7.0”.