The story follows a woman (Hilary Swank) whose brother is convicted of a brutal murder in 1983. Fiercely believing he's innocent, she gets her GED, graduates from college, goes to law school, passes the bar, and sets out to find a way to free him. The quest lasts 18 years and costs her her marriage, but does land her a bonus Minnie Driver, who plays another lawyer, and Swank's best friend. So, you see, the title has one of those clever double meanings. That's the level of filmmaking we're dealing with here.

The movie's relentlessly no-nonsense. Swank goes from sitting in one classroom to sitting in another, stopping momentarily only to have strong-willed yet pretty rudimentary arguments with the people in her life over whether or not she should be sacrificing her life for her brother's. They go like this, "Hilary Swank, you're wasting your life!" "No I'm not! He is innocent! Don't you dare say he's not!" That conversation, word for word, happens about five times in the movie. We get it, lady. You have conviction.

The whole thing plays like a better-than-average Lifetime movie, and opportunities to make Swank's character a three-dimensional one were not taken. She doesn't discover a love for the law, she doesn't enjoy or regret striking out on her own and doing something unexpected of her, she goes through no dynamic change whatsoever. It's just work, work, work. Brother, brother, brother. Court, court, court. She has no characteristics or interests outside of the plot she has to move forward, and I can't tell you how boring that is to watch.

Only thing that makes the movie worthwhile is one phenomenal scene with Juliette Lewis that I don't want to spoil, but if you do rent this someday, fast-forward to the part where Swank visits her in her shanty shack. It is the kind of crap Supporting Actress Oscars for seven-minute movie parts were made for, and I'd hate for no one else but me and a bunch of sad-sack critics to see it.

Did you see Conviction? How much did you love it? Tell us below, then see the rest of Hilary Swank's Oscar bait failures!