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LaRoy, Texas
Fans of the Cohen Brothers will have a head start with 2023's LaRoy, Texas, an intricate and loopy black comedy that requires complete attention, providing rewards that I will try not to reveal through spoilers.
Ray is the milquetoast co-owner of a hardware store with his older brother, Junior. Ray meets a wanna be private detective named Skip who provides proof to Ray that his wife, a shrewish former beauty queen named Stacy-Lynn, is having an affair. Instead of confronting her about it, Ray is so devastated by the news that he decides he's going to commit suicide. He's sitting in a parking lot about to put the gun to his temple when a guy jumps into the passenger side of his car, throws a pile of cash at him and an address and asks him if he can still kill someone by tomorrow because it's time sensitive. Ray's about to explain that he's not a hitman until the guy implies that he's a wimp and Ray says he'll take care of it.
To reveal anymore of what happens would be wrong, because this is one of those movies that morphs into a giant jigsaw puzzle that doesn't exactly put itself together at lightening speed but is peppered with such interesting and pathetic, three dimensional characters that the viewer can't help but empathize with a couple of them, especially this poor schlub Ray, whose pain about learning of his wife's infidelity is palatable. It's obvious from the second that he learns the truth that he would have been perfectly happy living the rest of his life without knowing about it. Ray's pain is compounded when we get to know Stacy-Lynn, who is a tramp so not worthy of his love.
Of course, there's another side of the story because not long after Ray agrees to do this, the real hitman shows up, looking for his payday and his pursuant of Ray is relentlessly unapologetic and in the center of it all, we have this amateur detective in complete denial about his amateur status, most likely a police academy reject because it is established early on that the local police like messing with him. They are observed having his car impounded and vandalized, making the man look like an idiot. We begin to empathize with him as much as we do with Ray. And the pleasant surprise of this film, is that we do see change in these guys in terms of self esteem, even if everything doesn't end up wrapped in a perfect bow.
Director and screenwriter Shane Atkinson is relatively inexperienced but he shows some real promise here as a filmmaker. John Margaro, who was so good last year in the Oscar-nominated Past Lives gives a star making performance as Ray as does the always watchable Steve Zahn as the fake private eye, Megan Stevenson as the pathetic Stacy-Lynn and Dylan Baker who channels Steve Buscemi in his chilling interpretation of a hitman. It sags a little in the middle, but there's more good here than bad.
Fans of the Cohen Brothers will have a head start with 2023's LaRoy, Texas, an intricate and loopy black comedy that requires complete attention, providing rewards that I will try not to reveal through spoilers.
Ray is the milquetoast co-owner of a hardware store with his older brother, Junior. Ray meets a wanna be private detective named Skip who provides proof to Ray that his wife, a shrewish former beauty queen named Stacy-Lynn, is having an affair. Instead of confronting her about it, Ray is so devastated by the news that he decides he's going to commit suicide. He's sitting in a parking lot about to put the gun to his temple when a guy jumps into the passenger side of his car, throws a pile of cash at him and an address and asks him if he can still kill someone by tomorrow because it's time sensitive. Ray's about to explain that he's not a hitman until the guy implies that he's a wimp and Ray says he'll take care of it.
To reveal anymore of what happens would be wrong, because this is one of those movies that morphs into a giant jigsaw puzzle that doesn't exactly put itself together at lightening speed but is peppered with such interesting and pathetic, three dimensional characters that the viewer can't help but empathize with a couple of them, especially this poor schlub Ray, whose pain about learning of his wife's infidelity is palatable. It's obvious from the second that he learns the truth that he would have been perfectly happy living the rest of his life without knowing about it. Ray's pain is compounded when we get to know Stacy-Lynn, who is a tramp so not worthy of his love.
Of course, there's another side of the story because not long after Ray agrees to do this, the real hitman shows up, looking for his payday and his pursuant of Ray is relentlessly unapologetic and in the center of it all, we have this amateur detective in complete denial about his amateur status, most likely a police academy reject because it is established early on that the local police like messing with him. They are observed having his car impounded and vandalized, making the man look like an idiot. We begin to empathize with him as much as we do with Ray. And the pleasant surprise of this film, is that we do see change in these guys in terms of self esteem, even if everything doesn't end up wrapped in a perfect bow.
Director and screenwriter Shane Atkinson is relatively inexperienced but he shows some real promise here as a filmmaker. John Margaro, who was so good last year in the Oscar-nominated Past Lives gives a star making performance as Ray as does the always watchable Steve Zahn as the fake private eye, Megan Stevenson as the pathetic Stacy-Lynn and Dylan Baker who channels Steve Buscemi in his chilling interpretation of a hitman. It sags a little in the middle, but there's more good here than bad.