Plot holes are gaping in 'The Sentinel'

A couple of the reviews I read of "The Sentinel" last week suggested the film might have fared better if Michael Douglas and Kiefer Sutherland had switched roles.

Maybe. But I think "The Sentinel" would have fared better if a little common sense had been used.

I'm not going to give away any big secrets, but if you plan to see "The Sentinel," you might want to stop reading right here, as I will be revealing certain plot points.

Douglas is a veteran Secret Service agent who's framed in a plot to kill the president. He's also having an affair with the president's wife.

Say what?

Meanwhile, veteran agent Sutherland and first-day-on-the-job agent Eva Longoria are in hot pursuit. Douglas is, of course, on the run, determined to clear himself.

And that part is OK. That's what pictures like this are all about: an innocent man on the run trying to clear himself before he's caught.

See any number of Hitchcock thrillers for the template.

In fact, see any number of Hitchcock thrillers instead of most modern thrillers. These days, ridiculous plot twists and gaping plot holes are the norm — and a few here really made me nuts.

Plot hole that made me nuts 1: A Secret Service agent in an affair with the first lady (Kim Basinger)!?!

Douglas sneaks into her bedroom at a vacation retreat — with all the other agents in the house! And no one suspects a thing!

Well, no one but the anonymous bad guy, who blackmails Douglas with photos of them in a clinch! They forgot to close the curtains?

At least on Sutherland's TV show "24," which currently has the U.S. president complicit in some heinous acts, there are reasons and backstories that explain things in a somewhat acceptable fashion.

In "The Sentinel" it's just wacky.

And how does Douglas eventually explain it away? He simply says that he loves her.

Love makes us do wacky things.

Plot hole that made me nuts 2: Douglas locates an apartment where the assassins are hiding out.

He kills one of the bad guys, who's been on his cell phone with the other bad guys, and then he finds evidence that can clear him.

So he calls Sutherland, tells him about it . . . and then he just leaves.