Directed by Robby Henson. Billy Bob Thornton, Sela Ward, William Devane, Patricia Arquette, Julie Hagerty, Marcus Lyle Brown, Hill Harper,
A wonderful smaller budget film with a great and deep cast that is well directed with an interesting story. Funny how that recipe seems to work more often than not, isn't it? In the film, we are quickly introduced to Sheriff Darl Hardwick (
The intrigue starts very early as Darl and his two deputies Jackson (Marcus Lyle Brown) and CB (Ray McKinnon) investigate a seemingly victimless accident as a truck carrying a large quantity of shoes veered off the interstate. Darl, skeptical of the driver's claim that a woman had caused him to crash the truck, instead seems more interested in dispatching the shoes, for free, to some citizens-likely voters-at the accident scene. After Darl has played Santa Claus for a while, he is as surprised as anyone when, lo and behold, there is the corpse of a woman lying unnoticed by the side of the road.
As if this turn isn't interesting enough, the plot, as they say, thickens even more when two things are determined: 1) the young woman died of a gunshot, not being hit by a truck and 2) the woman appears to be a hermaphrodite, not a common thing in small town
Things quickly go from bad to worse for Darl, as his handling of the free shoe affair quickly displeases the County Judge and power-broker (William Devane Bad News Bears In Breaking Training), and his sloppy handling of what now seems to be a murder investigation is just another sticky subject between he and ex-wife and County D.A. (Sela Ward The Fugitive).
The film progresses in an excellent fashion, with the key turn being the sudden appearance of a young woman from
Henson does a wonderful job of telling us several stories inside of one big story at one time, so that we follow all layers and one strain of the movie does not detract from another. From the burgeoning romance Darl has Patricia Arquette's character, to his relationship with his father and long estranged brother (Thomas Haden Church), to the deepening intrigue of the murder investigation that, suddenly, no one except Darl wants to investigate, the result of which results in Darl facing a reelection campaign against one of his own deputies and new favorite of the power brokers.
The film cannot be done justice in a short review, which just might spoil it anyway, but the descent of Darl, a character we both like and are critical of, is interesting to watch as it unfolds in the midst of a new romantic possibility and a murder case that stretches up to the highest levels of
Thornton is wonderful, as he always is for those of us who just like him, and the other main actors bring the characters to life in a way that everyone can empathize with and, if any of you have ever worked or been around law enforcement, particularly in the Deep South, like moi , you will find yourself saying, "I know/knew a judge/lawyer/politician/deputy just like that!" Also, I'll bet you'll find yourself hating Devane's character, but loving him in the role, which is something only the real good ones can pull off.
Arquette is fabulous as well, she has long been my fave of the talented Arquette family. Two characters who have relatively small roles but make a huge mark on this film are Sister Felecia (Julie Hagerty Airplane) and Gizmo (Hill Harper). They both deserve special mention.
Ultimately, however, its Thornton who has to carry this film and he does, as he always will when cast correctly.
This film is a triple. The only thing that keeps it from being a home run on DVD is the lack of special features which, with a cast and story like this, would have been a ton of fun and interesting to watch.
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