“Changing Lanes” (Paramount, R) is the story of a battle of wits between two men. Both men have the upper hand at some point during the battle, but in the end only one man can win — or can he?

The film tells the story of Gavin Banek (Ben Affleck) and Doyle Gipson (Samuel L. Jackson). Banek is a wealthy lawyer who works for his father-in-law, and Gipson is a recovering alcoholic struggling to win back his family. One morning, Banek is on his way to court with an important file that holds the future of his company inside. At the same time, Gipson is on his way to court to try to win joint custody of his children. If you have seen any of the previews, you can guess what happens next.

Banek and Gipson get in a car accident, leaving Gipson’s car broken down on the road. Banek is in such a hurry to get to court that he offers Gipson a blank check for the damages, but Gipson declines, saying he wants to do things “the right way.” Banek doesn’t want to waste time with all that so he leaves the scene of the accident, telling Gipson “better luck next time.” Banek gets to court and finds that he left his court files at the scene of the accident. Meanwhile, Gipson shows up to court late and loses his case because of it. Now, Banek must track down an irate Gipson to try to get his file back.

At this point, the movie turns into a game of chess, with each man trying to one-up the other. Banek shuts off Gipson’s bank account, Gipson responds by unscrewing the bolts from a wheel on Banek’s car. Gipson, of course, has the upper hand here because he has the file and has nothing to lose because he already lost his court case. The interesting thing about this movie is that you can find yourself rooting for either guy.

Director Roger Michell does a good job of cutting back and forth between the two men and showing both sides of the story. The editing works well; a scene with Banek will seem to connect visually to the following scene with Gipson, and vice versa. Both Affleck and Jackson do great acting jobs here. We can understand the fear and emotion they both possess for different reasons.

While Banek starts off fighting for his job and the future of his company, his reasons for battle become more personal as the movie goes on and, in the end, his court files don’t really matter anymore. On the other side, Gipson’s battle is all about saving his life and regaining his family, while fighting off the temptations of alcohol at the same time.

The techno soundtrack is exactly what the film needs. If it had some predictable orchestrated music, it would not have been as effective.

The DVD itself is nothing special. It has two deleted scenes and one extended scene – nothing worth fussing over. There is also a director’s commentary and a behind-the-scenes featurette that may be worth watching if you are a huge fan of the movie.