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USA 2014
Directed by
Matt Shakman
93 minutes
Rated MA

Reviewed by
Bernard Hemingway
3 stars

Cut Bank

Although Matt Shakman’s Coen-esque thriller is too generically derivative to convince there is enough here to make it a reasonable pastime, albeit most of it lies with its remarkable cast

Liam Hemsworth plays Dwayne, a young man desperate to leave his dull hometown of Cut Bank, Montana, who with his girlfriend Cassandra (Teresa Palmer) accidentally films the murder of US mailman Georgie Wits (Bruce Dern). The local sheriff (John Malkovich) starts investigating the case but Dwayne’s boss and prospective father-in-law (Billy Bob Thornton) smells a rat. A US postal manager (Oliver Platt) arrives in town in order to settle Dwayne’s claim to the $100, 000 reward money but wants to see the body which has not been found. Complicating matters further the town odd-ball, Derby Milton (Michael Stuhlbarg), wants a package that Georgie was supposed to deliver to him and decides to go looking for it.

The small-town crime-gone-wrong movie is an appealing one, with the Coen’s Fargo and Sam Raimi’s A Simple Plan being notable examples of the style.  Cut Bank has all the right ingredients but the screenplay by Roberto Patino is rather under-cooked and director Matt Shakman doesn’t bring anything fresh to distract us from its deficiencies. The result is that the story unfolds with a predictable facility which deprives it of real credibility as a crime story whilst on the other hand it doesn't play up enough to its black comedy potential.

The key to the success of Fargo was in the plausibility of Jerry Lundegaard’s plan going wrong and his increasingly desperate attempts to extricate himself from the mess he had created. Dwayne, on the other hand maybe a good-looking lug but his plan is so inept that it barely deserves the description. Perhaps that is the intention (Bruce Dern’s postman is equally stupid and the third member of the scam, Match, appears to be of a similar stripe)) but on the other hand Derby, who becomes the real driver of the action in his search for his p-p-parcel is far too canny and physically adept. And why does everyone know who he is?  

In amongst all the non-sequitors are some amusingly offbeat characters. Unusual casting choices John Malkovich and Oliver Platt are both droll although Billy Bob Thornton  who is well within his comfort zone (he was in A Simple Plan and the teleseries of Fargo) is under-utilized), as is Bruce Dern who looks like he was not long off the set of Nebraska.  Michael Stuhlbarg steals his every scene as the outcast Derby Milton. With a cast like this it’s a pity that the film wasn’t as good a vehicle for them as it could have been.

Available from: Shock Entertainment

 

 

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