A sweetly innocuous small town gets a visit from some big time hoods and local sheriff Bill Paxton wants in on the bust, much to the annoyance of the two L.A. cops trailing them. But soon there is much more going on than a crime story. The sheriff's ex is traveling with the goons and her personal history with the sheriff then serves to fog up an otherwise straightforward pursuit. Motives and loyalties are questioned, temptations arise and personal drama takes the foreground. This second act shift from crime story to relationship drama is what gives the movie its power and makes it memorable and unusual. Too often, crime thrillers have tacked on romantic subplots that just clutter things up, but here the relationship and its fall-out are inextricable from the plot and are in fact pushing it ahead. The proceedings feel authentic and the drama has power rooted in that emotional authenticity. Cynda Williams is particularly good as the ex; she doesn't just appear in the movie, she haunts it. Her strong presence and her emotional history with the sheriff pervade and color everything that comes after her first appearance and she becomes the key figure and the great enigma at the center of the drama.
I liked the dusty-but-harmless look of the small Arkansas town, and the way everybody in it manages to convey normalcy without being dull. This shows good writing and quality work on the part of the minor players. The whole movie is a testament to putting quality in the details. There are few false notes struck here, a rare thing for a low budget crime drama.
I liked the dusty-but-harmless look of the small Arkansas town, and the way everybody in it manages to convey normalcy without being dull. This shows good writing and quality work on the part of the minor players. The whole movie is a testament to putting quality in the details. There are few false notes struck here, a rare thing for a low budget crime drama.