LaRoy, Texas

I must say I like to give opinions of movies I have not heard of or read anything before, hence not having been influenced by critics or media in the first place. Well I'm afraid this one is far from what it may looks like. A good 10 minute start brings and offers promising plot, although right after the movie starts its descend to nowhere. A ridiculous Steve Zahn character combined with an excessive twisted plot, pushes the whole story to the edge of the cliff, where it finishes by falling into the abyss of boredom and grotesque. Yet the atmosphere and other characters like Dylan Baker and a good photography, may deserve some consideration, so I dare to give a 5,9 over 10, in the end. LaRoy, Texas results of an failed attempt of bringing back Fargo to live. The division line is clear; whilst Fargo is a tough and violent drama combining horror with bitterness humor, LaRoy Texas just end up being a whole dumb redneck game of useless characters trying but getting nowhere. Nope, not this one guys. Better try with small movies like Sweet Virginia (2017) or the more mainstream Three Billboards outside Edding (2017) , as they may keep the Fargo spirit with some better dignity.

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.

I watched this on a plane solely due to Steve Zahn and well, there are so few good movies now, especially ones without some strange agenda. This fit the bill, but it is hit and miss. The lack of agenda is worth 2 stars all on its own.

As almost every review tells you, this goes far to basically ripoff the Coen Bros' Fargo. We have to give the creators credit for reaching for the sky in their borrowing. Fargo fumes + Zahn + Dylan Baker as a hit man are the saving graces.

Otherwise, the other main character, Ray, is a one-note completely moronic loser who seems to learn nothing from everything he goes through. Yes. He goes through a lot, but he was flatlined braindead.

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.

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.