In the world of movies - especially independent movies - Blue Ridge is that rare anomaly; a film that doesn't take itself seriously enough. Whatever movie one makes, the maker must believe in his/her creation whole-heartedly, and evidently this is not the case here; some ironic (or simply dishonest) distancing of the heart at the core of this tale spoils the near-cohesive soup of ingredients 'selling' us this story of a New Sheriff with a troubled marriage in a Small Town with Trouble. The casting, acting, filmography, dialogue and music were all very good, but could not transcend this fatal flaw. The tongue-in-cheek stretches were over-extended to the point of making the climatic face-off of the primary protagonists cliche'd and unbelievable. (& BTW the over-done SFX flash of fire from his gun when the grieving Native American leader fired it in the air is jarringly unbelievable, too.) Although intelligent, the writers missed an easy opportunity to weave the theme of Thanksgiving into the storyline which would have enriched this film overall, plus make it fit into a popular market in need of refreshing alternatives to the classic Planes, Trains and Automobiles; all those lovely touches of Autumnal colour (though we were denied pumpkins - presumably because of this strange preference for neutrality of time and place) resulted in an unfulfilled seasonal promise, and missed out on a heart-warming closing scene of our heroic crime-solving Sheriff and his wife and daughter reuniting as a once-again happy family around a Thanksgiving table peopled with grateful new neighbours and friends. Too bad. Blue Ridge shoulda/coulda been a little gem, instead of a Fargo wanna-be.
