The Outlaw Review: Down-Home Dialogue and Idiosyncratic Characters Lift Gun-Totin’ Black Comedy
You could be forgiven for having extremely modest expectations for this thriller movie given the promotional image’s generically moody imagery showing star Seann William Scott gripping a gun with an power tower in the background. What a pleasant surprise to find out this is actually a humorous film, better yet, one that’s frequently humorous in a blokey, improvised sort of way.
The Premise
The conceit is that in the small Tennessee town of Colt Lake, a man is murdered in the street, run over by a car so many times that he resembles ground meat. Clueless but kindly local cop Sam Evans, played by Johnny Simmons, and his deputy DJ, brought to life by Chance Perdomo, make a feeble attempt at investigating, but are soon upstaged when special agent Bobby Gaines, played by Seann William Scott, suddenly arrives, working for a statewide taskforce and takes over the case.
Unconventional Methods
Gaines’ methods may be a little on the forceful side and not strictly by the book, but he obtains admissions surprisingly fast and soon progresses through the admittedly short crime food chain until he finds the main bad guy. There are a few twists, but the crime plot is of much less importance than the rustic banter: a steady stream of men mocking each other, questioning one another’s masculinity, and generally labeling each other as small town underachievers.
Based on Reality?
Opening titles at the beginning states that this 2008 story was based on real-life occurrences, but that may hold as much water as the assertion at the start of the original Fargo film. And who knows—maybe one of the antagonists really did have a girlfriend named Destiny, played by Jett Wilder, who strolled around during showdowns playing the banjo, and that Sam had a sweet spot for Izzy, brought to life by Lovi Poe, the town official’s daughter, and her gorgeous collection of brioche-knit sweaters.
Directorial Flair
But the weird elements around the edges give the film flavor, irrespective of whether they’re based on anything real, and director Michael Diliberti and his editor have a talent for trimming in just the right place to drive home a joke. The final act of the script are more than a little foreseeable, but this isn’t at all bad for a directorial debut.
Bad Man is available on digital platforms from 22 September.
