Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau | ... | Joe Denton | |
Robert Forster | ... | Joe Denton Sr. | |
Jacki Weaver | ... | Irma Denton | |
Molly Parker | ... | Charlotte Boyd | |
Gary Cole | ... | Dan Pleasant | |
Macon Blair | ... | Scotty Caldwell | |
Michael Kinney | ... | Phil Coakley | |
Daniela Sandiford | ... | Cara Coakley | |
Shawn Lawrence | ... | Manny Vassey | |
Pat Healy | ... | Junior Vassey | |
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Eddie Holland | ... | Vassey Kid #1 |
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Jasson Finney | ... | Vassey Thug #1 |
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Anatoly Zinoviev | ... | Vassey Thug #2 |
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Glen Bowser | ... | Abraham |
Larry Fessenden | ... | Earl |
SMALL CRIMES is a delightfully suspenseful, blackly comic tale that follows a disgraced former cop, fresh off a six-year prison sentence for attempted murder, who returns home looking for redemption, but winds up trapped in the mess he left behind.
'SMALL CRIMES': Four Stars (Out of Five)
A dark crime-drama about a former corrupt cop, that's just out of prison for attempted murder (from 6 year earlier), who's desperately trying to leave his former life behind, but can't. The movie stars Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau, Molly Parker, Robert Forster, Jacki Weaver, Gary Cole, Macon Blair, Pat Healy and Michael Kinney. The film was directed by E.L. Katz (who also helmed 2013's outstanding 'CHEAP THRILLS'), and it was written by Katz and Blair (based on the novel, of the same name, by Dave Zeltserman). It was released by Netflix through their streaming site, and it's gotten mixed reviews from critics. I found it to be a pretty impressive, and highly interesting, dark crime movie.
Coaster-Waldau plays Joe Denton, a former corrupt cop that was recently released from prison. Denton did six years for attempting to murder a district attorney, named Phil Coakley (Kinney), under the mob's payroll. He attempts to reunite with his ex-wife, and their children, but learns that they've left town and never want to see him again. Denton instead moves in with his parents (Foster and Weaver), but they're suspicious that he's still a danger to himself, and everyone around him. At the same time he starts a relationship with a nurse (Parker), and he's harassed into committing yet another murder, by a corrupt police lieutenant, and his old partner (Cole).
The movie is really dark, and full of unlikable characters (with just a few exceptions). Coaster-Waldau is likable in the film, I think, but it's clear that he's done some really bad things in his past. I really wanted to root for him, and I did, but the movie is more of a tragedy than anything else actually. It's frustrating to see how some people just can't get things right, no matter how hard they try, and how positive their intentions are. That's the genius of this film, and it does a pretty good job of telling that story.