LaRoy, Texas

Laroy, Texas is a Fargo-esque movie by writer/director Shane Atkinson. He has for sure watched and enjoyed movies by the Coen Brothers. He doesn't have the same talent but he has for sure been influenced by the Coen Brothers and he's certainly good enough to make an entertaining movie in Fargo style. Good dialogues between the two major characters, an interesting story with the necessary twists and turns to keep it interesting, and a good doses of black humour. The entire cast were believable in their roles, enjoyable characters in a wild story that makes this genre of movies just highly entertaining.

It's pretty clear from the outset that first-time feature director Shawn Atkinson is a big fan of the Coen brothers because there isn't a scene in this evocative albeit overlong 2024 character-driven thriller that didn't remind me of genuine classics like "Fargo", "Blood Simple", or "No Country for Old Men". The convoluted plot centers on put-upon Ray, a sad sack who owns the town's family hardware store with his slick brother Junior. Married to an unfaithful former beauty queen Stacy-Linn, Ray decides to end it all but gets caught up as an inadvertent hit man on the track of missing cash with his hapless private eye buddy Skip. Much like William H. Macy's Jerry Lundegaard in "Fargo", Ray is such a pitiful character that John Magaro can only do so much to flesh out his role and elicit empathy for his character. On the other hand, Steve Zahn brings welcome over-the-top comic gusto to Skip, while Dylan Baker plays effectively against type as Harry, the true hit man. Matthew Del Negro and Megan Stevenson play Junior and Stacy-Linn pretty much by the numbers. As with the Coens' films, there are comic scenes punctuated by shots of extreme violence. Really for fans of this particular genre.

The movie is fun to watch, from the beggining to the end. It keeps you guessing whats coming next. All the actors did great at their roles, the plot is very nice, the soundtrack is great and fitting at its scenes. The humor is on point, and its not exagerated. The first 25 minutes are the best and keeps you interested from whats going to do next. Middle is not so good as the first act and the end is nice, but not explendid.

Overall, I recommend this movie to everyone who likes a bit of humor and likes movies that made you think "things are terrible, it cant be worse", and them, it gets even worser than you thought it could be.

7.5/10.

A completely washed up loser, Ray (John Magaro) finds out his wife is having an affair and plans to kill himself. However he inadvertently gets mistaken for a hit man and is given a pile of cash. Through various circumstances he accidentally kills the target with the complex outcome involving his brother, wife, the real hit man and over confident wannabe PI Skip (Steve Zahn) causing him to be placed in all kinds of trouble.

Very Coenesque, this features a lot of sometimes fun, sometimes silly and annoying rather cliched caricatures as they attempt to extricate themselves from various situations. The film is saved by Zahn, funny as an idiot who thinks he's a smart PI and Dylan Baker as the real and merciless hit man. What frankly irks is Magaro's central character, so dumb and irritating that you just wish he'd go away. Some fun stuff here though, with a few clever plotting ideas making the who will prevail and who won't notion worth the wait to the climax where all is sorted one way or another.

LaRoy, Texas, a small scale, small town, crime drama with hint sof comedy that can make or break it. It likes to be silly as a harsh counterpart to the drama. The only issue here is writing and forthcoming characters.

Directing is pretty good, editing is just okay with some off beat cuts here and there but it looks the part and overall keeps a nice consistent style of a beatdown small town in a America. That being said, it's a surprisingly lively town once we go inside of places. Which to me felt odd. You are introduced into practically a ghost town, but the first diner and bar you walk into are full of people and have a pretty cozy/normal vibe to them. For the rest though, good enough, action directing not amazing.

Acting, overall great performances, though mostly quite one note. What irks me most though is the writing and the main downfall of this for me. The main character is intentionally written as a person not to root for, which is fine, if it also meant for a interesting and engaging story with his side characters and his own development. But not really. The character stays stuck in place so hard it becomes annoying to the point where you start to question the character even more, which also leads to a underwhelming ending.

Seeing someone mention Coen brothers, yeah, this is maybe something like that, it comes into that area of oddball characters and a main character that just kind of glides around them. But it lacks the writing (and dialog writing) to make it stick the landing. Only Zahn's character got a couple of chuckles out of me but that's about it.

It's fine, but tends to feel somewhat blunt and lacking.