Return to Paradise

Three friends spend a holiday together in Malaysia before two of them, Sheriff and Tony, return to New York for work and Lewis stays behind to study the country's wildlife. Two years later, the pair learn that Lewis has been arrested for drug possession after police found drugs left behind at the bungalow the friends had shared. Under Malaysian law he faces a death sentence, and a lawyer takes up his case. The offer she pursues would spare Lewis's life only if Sheriff and Tony return to Malaysia and accept prison terms themselves, leaving both men to weigh their futures against their friend's survival.

Joseph Ruben directed the film, which sits between Money Train (1995) and The Forgotten (2004) in his filmography. Bruce Robinson and Wesley Strick wrote the screenplay, and Steve Golin and Alain Bernheim produced. Vince Vaughn plays Sheriff, Joaquin Phoenix plays Lewis, David Conrad plays Tony and Anne Heche plays the lawyer Beth Eastern, with Jada Pinkett Smith and Vera Farmiga also in the cast. The film runs 109 minutes and was released in August 1998.

On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.9 from around 16,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.5 from roughly 317 votes. A critics' rating of 7.1 from 43 reviews places it somewhat above the audience scores. Its worldwide box office of about 8 million dollars was modest.