The thing I love about Netflix and other purveyors of streaming movies is that you can see some independent outings that might not even ever have made it to your video rental store, when those things existed; well, this would have been Redbox-worthy. One of the things I don't like about Netflix is that I have to scroll through the descriptions of tons of basically forgotten movies, each of whose description pretty much sums up why it has been forgotten. So often the cover art, the stars, the first few lines of a synopsis seem tempting ... until you read that the story devolves into something to do with vampires and other lackluster devices.
But some of these little sort of homemade movies seem to have an actual plot grounded somewhere in reality; Shakespeare would have been happy with this one because it's pretty nuts-and-bolts, with emotional twists and a certain amount of violence. Plus, it made sense, for the most part. I was not sure that a detective would have fallen into obsession so readily as did one of our heroes, but it was pretty well established that that was a pattern of his, and he did seem the type who liked to play white knight. But the particular deception was interesting once unraveled. Yes, I did keep thinking throughout the movie that Jim Haynie was the spitting image of William Holden, and that that was maybe why he had never become a household name; although I read in another review that the resemblance was to Darren McGavin. Maybe that's who I was thinking of. Otherwise, Haynie was charming, and Scott Paulin dashing. Somehow I have a feeling they were actively involved in producing the movie as a showcase for their talents that deserved to have gone farther than they did ... both have apparently been well regarded character actors for years who have worked on other of the same projects. That's not unusual in Hollywood, to see the same people popping up together almost like repertory theater. I will warn you that the production values are not up to Hollywood blockbuster standards but what do you want from an independent like this? In a way, the missteps add to its charm. I could have handled another crime solved by the duo.
But some of these little sort of homemade movies seem to have an actual plot grounded somewhere in reality; Shakespeare would have been happy with this one because it's pretty nuts-and-bolts, with emotional twists and a certain amount of violence. Plus, it made sense, for the most part. I was not sure that a detective would have fallen into obsession so readily as did one of our heroes, but it was pretty well established that that was a pattern of his, and he did seem the type who liked to play white knight. But the particular deception was interesting once unraveled. Yes, I did keep thinking throughout the movie that Jim Haynie was the spitting image of William Holden, and that that was maybe why he had never become a household name; although I read in another review that the resemblance was to Darren McGavin. Maybe that's who I was thinking of. Otherwise, Haynie was charming, and Scott Paulin dashing. Somehow I have a feeling they were actively involved in producing the movie as a showcase for their talents that deserved to have gone farther than they did ... both have apparently been well regarded character actors for years who have worked on other of the same projects. That's not unusual in Hollywood, to see the same people popping up together almost like repertory theater. I will warn you that the production values are not up to Hollywood blockbuster standards but what do you want from an independent like this? In a way, the missteps add to its charm. I could have handled another crime solved by the duo.