Lewis, on the other hand, is a sweet-faced, long-haired, Greenpeace liberal, gentle and sensitive. When he and his two newfound friends wreck a bicycle, he insists on pushing it back to town because he knows it’s the “bread and butter” of the man who rented it to them. Sheriff grabs the bike and throws it down a ravine while the third guy, Tony (David Conrad), passively looks on.
These are pretty broad strokes, yes, but effective ones, and I found myself happy to see RETURN TO PARADISE start off so economically. You’ve met all these guys before, and the dynamic among them is clear. All three men, we’re told in voiceover, met for the first time at the start of their vacation five weeks previous; now they’re going their separate ways, full of empty promises to stay in touch.
When, over their final bong hits, Lewis invites Sheriff to stay behind with him to save the orangutan, Sheriff looks like he’s about to burst out laughing, but recovers tactfully. He confesses that he just doesn’t have it in him, but he’s happy for Lewis. “That’s cool, man,” he says, reaching out for one of those dude handshakes with a sincerity that you almost think he believes, “that’s totally cool.” It’s awkward and true. This guy don’t stick his neck out for nobody.
Cut to two years later. A lawyer named Beth Eastern (Anne Heche) climbs into the backseat of the limo that Sheriff chauffeurs in New York City and drops a bomb: After Sheriff and Tony left Malaysia, police came to where the three had been staying and found a huge brick of hash that Sheriff and Tony had chunked in the garbage. Lewis has been in jail ever since, and is going to be executed for trafficking in eight days, unless the other two agree to go back and serve time for their part in the crime--three years apiece if they both go back, six years if only one goes.
