Small Crimes (2017)

Watched 4/22/24 (Netflix)

The Macon Blair project of eccentric, ultra-gorey, gooey crime capers is one I have quite a bit of time for. In this case I had specifically an hour and a half for it…and, unfortunately, it was time I could have spent better. This movie isn’t without its awkward, blackly comic charm, but tonal dissonance and extraneous, underdeveloped characters, as well as their various side-plots, kept the rubber from meeting the road just when this Nikolaj Coster-Waldau vehicle would begin to spin its wheels. It’s all compacted into such a short runtime with such a lack of urgency in its pacing that the movie ever only flickers, refusing to ignite anything resembling a sustainable fire.

Even with some fittingly hard-hitting gunshots and punches thrown, it’s such a scattershot effort that one can’t help but be let down by the rushed ending. It’s not that you’re that bummed to leave this town. It’s under-lit, under-explained, and often more depressing than darkly comedic at the end of the day. There are some respectable performances and Elmore Leonard-core dialogue to chew on, but they are often undercut by a lack of suspense and an indecision of whether to commit to talky or cerebral. A weirdly serious punchline of failure and mortality courses through the story till its bitter, painful end. It was more the premise and talent involved that kept me watching. I kept waiting for the good ingredients to take over, and they just never quite overpowered the bland, powdery screenplay and messy execution.

4.75/10