SMALL CRIMES

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau     Molly Parker     Macon Blair     Robert Forster     Jacki Weaver

Gary Cole     Michael Kinney     Larry Fessenden     Pat Healy     Tara Yelland

      Small Crimes takes us into a town’s corruption and gossip with dirty cops and mafia bosses.  Joe Denton (Coster-Waldau) is just being let out of prison after serving six years for the attempted murder of a district attorney.  He states his intentions to reform, telling the prison chaplain whom he has been seeing for counseling for years that he wants to make up for the past.  Once he’s out, he goes to his parents’ (Forster, Weaver) home and borrows his father’s truck. But after walking past a bar, he retraces his steps and goes inside.  Those are fatal steps; in no time at all, he is being pulled back into the old circle of dirty cops and a mob boss, drawing him back into the circle with threats to his family if he doesn’t follow through.  Lieutenant Pleasant (sure!) (Cole) gives him specific instructions on what to do for all involved to avoid reopening a case.  Of course, what to do involves a crime.

      Joe makes feeble attempts to do the jobs he is supposed to, but either fails or chickens out.  (It seems that prison experiences did have some effect on him.)  Thinking he’ll get around the problem another way, he makes friends with the mob boss’s hospice nurse, Charlotte (Parker), another maneuver that reveals his lack of concern for his impact on others.  Former mob boss is dying of cancer, has gotten religion, and is talking about turning state’s evidence, implicating Joe and his accomplices.  The man has to go, says Lieutenant Pleasant.

      The film is good at showing how someone being released from prison has a very difficult time reintegrating into society and the influence past connections have on the process.  And as we see Joe trying different means of squirming out of the situation, we’re also aware of his lack of perspective and sensibility about the overall picture.  In other words, the film ends up not having much of a point about what it is portraying.  This brings to mind the question of the title, Small Crimes, which actually refers to something much heavier:  murder.

     Coster-Waldau is a fine actor, as we’ve seen in HBO’s Game of Thrones, but this script by the director E. L. Katz and screenwriter Macon Blair (the latter influenced by Jeremy Saulnier of Blue Ruin and Green Room) doesn’t have enough creativity to exploit his talents.  Molly Parker, Gary Cole, Robert Forster, and Jacki Weaver provide excellent supporting talent, but they are also let down by the script, which doesn’t have what it takes to be a major work. 

Small Crimes ends up being small potatoes in moviedom.

Grade:  D                             By Donna R. Copeland

SMALL TOWN CRIME

John Hawkes     Octavia Spencer     Robert Forster     Anthony Anderson

      Mike Kendall (Hawkes) is an ex-policeman who was fired from the police force after becoming an alcoholic and using poor judgment in a traffic stop.  He leads a lonely life, once ending up in the bushes off the highway when, heading toward home, spots a body on the side of the road.  He stops, and loads the body, a young woman into his car.  He still has a friendly contact on the force, so turns the body over to him to process.  To his frustration, his friend is unable ethically to give him any information about her. 

     However, when he gets back in his car, he discovers the woman’s cell phone.  He misses police work so much, he can’t resist doing a little investigation, to the point that, despite his colleague’s warnings and advice he decides to become a private investigator.  With his experience on the force, he easily qualifies for certification.

     Now that he has the woman’s name and address, he goes to visit the woman’s parents and grandfather (Forster).  The parents prefer simply letting the police—who had already visited—handle the case.  But when Mike goes to talk to the grandfather, he gets hired because the man is critical of the parents and suspects the girl’s boyfriend, and enthusiastically joins up with Mike.

     But this girl will not be the first one to die, and Mike realizes that the young woman was mixed up in a major crime ring involving drugs and prostitution.  The story becomes complex as Mike tries to uncover the truth while needing to sidestep the police. 

     Mike was adopted as a child, and has a sister (Spencer) and her husband who have been supporting him and trying to get him to shape up.  When they are inadvertently involved in the murder mystery, the stakes become even higher for Mike to be successful.  Plots, car chases, and extreme violence ensue.

     Small Town Crime is interesting, exciting and well choreographed by the writers/directors Eshom and Ian Nelms.  Hawkes is his usual captivating character, and Spencer and Anderson add warmth and sensibility to the production.  The first part is too long in detailing Mike’s alcoholism, and makes him an unsympathetic figure, despite his heroics and efforts to reform himself.  When the crime figures enter the picture, the story heats up considerably, especially when the limits to which the criminals will go to protect their assets becomes apparent.

A thrilling crime story involving a reforming policeman, young women, and ruthless criminals.

Grade:  C+                                                            By Donna R. Copeland