Let's face it -- for me, happiness is watching Ben Affleck on the big screen for two hours.

With Affleck's long list of movies to come, like The Sum of All Fears, which will be in theaters at the end of May; The Third Wheel, which will be out at the end of the year and costars his Good Will Hunting buddy Matt Damon; Gigli, which is set to be released in 2003 and costars Jennifer Lopez; and Jersey Girl, a Kevin Smith film, which reunites Affleck with his Chasing Amy costar Joey Lauren Adams, I'm going to be one happy girl.

Needless to say, I went to theater this weekend with much anticipation of seeing Affleck, along with Samuel L. Jackson, in Changing Lanes. Changing Lanes tells the story of two stressed-out men who get in a fender bender on FDR Drive in New York and soon become vicious enemies.

Hotshot lawyer Gavin Banek (Affleck) is rushing to court for an important hearing while Doyle Gipson (Jackson), a recovering alcoholic, is trying to make it to court on time for a custody hearing. After a minor accident, Banek rushes off and leaves an important file at the scene. Gipson is left stranded in the rain and misses the hearing; thus losing custody of his two sons.

The film continues in the next 36 hours of the men's lives. Bad luck is an understated explanation of the events, as each man becomes more vengeful with every passing hour. "Life is full of arbitrary little accidents like the one that propels these guys into such troubled waters," said director Roger Michell in a press release. "It's not a good guy/bad guy story. It's about standing on the brink of doing the right thing, or not."

In short, it's a drama. And Affleck's character is ruthless -- a far cry from the fun-loving Chuckie in my favorite Affleck movie, Good Will Hunting. Affleck's acting was strong, as was Jackson's, which is no surprise. Jackson is a seasoned actor with a filmography that includes Shaft, Eve's Bayou, A Time to Kill, Do the Right Thing, Jackie Brown and Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. Jackson will also star in Star Wars II - Attack of the Clones, which will be in theaters May 16.

The film also includes supporting roles by Amanda Peet, as Banek's wife; Toni Collette as Banek's mistress and coworker; and Sydney Pollack as Banek's unethical boss and father-in-law. Pollack is best known as the Academy Award-winning director of films such as, Out of Africa, The Firm and The Way We Were.

I think the best part about the movie by far was the acting. Peet even gave a convincing performance as the strong, manipulative and understanding wife of a cheating lawyer. I wasn't impressed with the direction or the pace of the movie. The road-rage-gone-bad story flipped flopped between Banek's and Gipson's different lives -- often with no transitions. The film also included a few sequences where it sped up, like Madonna's "Ray of Light" video. I thought it was distracting and a sign that the director had some extra cash in his budget.

Changing Lanes was Michell's American film debut. His most-recent film was Notting Hill.