1/2 way though this film I kept on wondering if I had seen it before. Unnecessary murders, Humanized chief of police, small town vistas, etc. Fargo without the snow. I also noticed that the characters seemed to be struggling to get away from the writers. They were dogged down with speech and actions that made no sense. Everyone seemed to be miscast. I love Tina Fey, don't get me wrong, but she was one of those actors who were underutilized and poorly formed. Jon Hamm was wooden, but when isn't he? I actually started to watch this because it was a chance to see Nick Mohammed In something other than Ted Lasso. Again, disappointing.
I don't really care that this was a ripoff of Fargo, so much as it shoulda/coulda been a good ripoff. The elements were there, but only the killer was fresh (I won't spoil the plot, but he was pretty good at being evil).
Throughout the movie, people kept on doing things that didn't make sense. In one of the scenes, where Tina Fey's character gets a hotel room was like a really nice song playing on a record player and suddenly someone sends the tonearm scratching across the entire record - jarring and nonsensical.
Jon Hamm's character is grieving, but there is no substance to the grieving.
And finally, the multiple victims in the story. No development. I would accuse the screenwriter of misogany with the first 2 murders, but he makes up for it with the last three. However, at least the last 3 got a chance for us to begin to see who they were. The women at the beginning had no chance at all - just victims.
I will give the writer and filmmaker some credit, however for not dumbing down the audience. When tina's character, towards the end of the movie makes her fateful decision, you know from her encounter with the car repair man what drove (pun intended) her to her decision.
I will give the set locations person and cinematographer a positive review - sets were gorgeous and real, and the cinematography helped to answer a few questions and move the plot along.
All in all, this should have been a much better movie and was destroyed by bad writing, bad character development. And poor casting.
I gave it 4 stars because i was willing to watch it to the end, and those of you who have not seen Fargo will enjoy it more than I did.
I don't really care that this was a ripoff of Fargo, so much as it shoulda/coulda been a good ripoff. The elements were there, but only the killer was fresh (I won't spoil the plot, but he was pretty good at being evil).
Throughout the movie, people kept on doing things that didn't make sense. In one of the scenes, where Tina Fey's character gets a hotel room was like a really nice song playing on a record player and suddenly someone sends the tonearm scratching across the entire record - jarring and nonsensical.
Jon Hamm's character is grieving, but there is no substance to the grieving.
And finally, the multiple victims in the story. No development. I would accuse the screenwriter of misogany with the first 2 murders, but he makes up for it with the last three. However, at least the last 3 got a chance for us to begin to see who they were. The women at the beginning had no chance at all - just victims.
I will give the writer and filmmaker some credit, however for not dumbing down the audience. When tina's character, towards the end of the movie makes her fateful decision, you know from her encounter with the car repair man what drove (pun intended) her to her decision.
I will give the set locations person and cinematographer a positive review - sets were gorgeous and real, and the cinematography helped to answer a few questions and move the plot along.
All in all, this should have been a much better movie and was destroyed by bad writing, bad character development. And poor casting.
I gave it 4 stars because i was willing to watch it to the end, and those of you who have not seen Fargo will enjoy it more than I did.