As a result of being burned by some pretty bad movies in the recent past, I started using IMDB as a rough guide. If the aggregate reviews of a movie are below a 6, I may not watch it. If they are below 5, I will not watch the movie. This movie scraped by with a 6, and Rotten Tomatoes gave it a lowly 30%. Even Roger Ebert crapped on it with a 1.5/4. For the life of me, I don't know why this wasn't more highly reviewed.
Liam Hemsworth isn't exactly the new Dustin Hoffman. He simply doesn't have a whole heap of acting talent to work with, but his role in this movie was suitably straight-forward. He plays a guy who is the local town stud, and he longs to get out of the crappy town that boasts the fact that it is the coldest place in the US. I assume they mean the continental US, as Alaska likely gets a lot colder, but that's not the point.
His girlfriend is the local hottie. While we don't really know what they did in school (they are too old to be in high school) they are still the equivalent of the Prom King and Queen. Teresa Palmer is this girlfriend who is generally amiable and bubbly. She's preoccupied with winning a beauty pageant so that she and Liam can get out of town together, funded by the winnings.
Trouble comes when the young couple are out in a field producing a demo tape for the pageant when they catch a murder taking place in the background. They take the recording to Teresa's father, Billy Bob Thonton, who calls in the local sheriff, played by the unparalleled John Malkovich. John investigates the murder of the town mailman, Bruce Dern. Yes, I will admit that the overall plot of the movie isn't all that much of a stretch - it doesn't even come close to something like Fargo in its story or actual film making - but this is a decent film in its own right.
I usually find my reviews to be more negative than the general feedback from other sites, but this movie was actually pretty good. Forgive it the simple plot, and you can really get enthralled with the excellent supporting cast and the complicated situations that they find themselves in. The movie really has a lot of bright spots, and it's a shame that it got panned so much by reviewers.
Story was simple
Dialog was excellent
Acting was very good
Direction was very good
Cinematography was good
Bottom Line: A very good movie that didn't get the appreciation it deserved.
3.0/5