Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield) lives in Orlando, Florida with his mother Lynn (Laura Dern) and son Connor. He's a single dad struggling to get by with his construction job when the housing crash takes the last bit away from him. The bank has foreclosed on his childhood home. Realty agent Rick Carver (Michael Shannon) leads the eviction. Dennis goes to argue over stolen tools during the eviction and Rick recruits him into his company. Rick runs scams to steal from the vacant homes to get reimbursed by the government or the banks. Dennis' morality is muddled as he desperately tries to get his home back.
Michael Shannon is great as he portrays Rick Carver as the present-day Gordon Gekko. Garfield is fine although his character's obsession with his childhood home gets into the way. It makes his decisions irrational. It also doesn't make sense that he couldn't simply move to another motel. Heck, he could move his family temporarily into one of their foreclosed properties for two weeks. The movie is trying to inject some nobility into Dennis artificially and push a moral structure into the movie's framework. It would be simpler to see Dennis slowly accept his immorality. The final immorality against Frank Greene would be more compelling and more natural. This movie has some great scenes. The evictions are especially powerful. There is no reason to artificially construct the moral conflict. It's in there naturally. Also it doesn't need Laura Dern's preaching.
