The Next Three Days

Some part of me hasn't been happy with Paul Haggis since I saw the movie Crash.  I remember seeing the film and feeling manipulated, used, and conned out of my time.
Now, I looked at my movie queue and saw that the next movie was The Next Three Days.  Okay, I thought.  I somewhat remember hearing about this film, and I couldn't remember whether it was well-received.
If it wasn't, I wouldn't be surprised.  That movie just kept going and going and I felt like it hadn't started about 45 minutes in.  For a film like this, it should be a great set-up -- a teacher attempts to break his convict wife out of prison.  And the performances by Elizabeth Banks and Russell Crowe are moving, nothing against them.
But...I found myself checking the time as I watched the movie, counting how many minutes until the end, because I wasn't sure it would ever get going in some forward direction.
And I was wondering why Liam Neeson was put in such a small role.  It stood out in a way that I can almost describe as awkward.
Thankfully, it got going and I got invested back in the film, rooting for the escape to be pulled off.  Then, I noticed something in the credits.
"Based on the film 'Pour Elle'"
...what?
Turns out that once again, Hollywood can't help but go to other film markets for ideas.  IMDB tells me that the original Pour Elle has a runtime of 96 minutes (vs 155 minutes), the wife was sentenced to 20 years (not life, like the Haggis version), and a budget of approx 8 million Euros (which pales to the 35 million spent on the American verson)
I know there have been many jokes about how Americans have to  make everything bigger and better.  I have not yet seen Pour Elle, so I can only definitely say that they made it bigger.
Definitely bigger.