This is hardly a great film but, on the other hand, there are far worse ways to spend two hours of your time. A moody and atmospheric neo noir, it's gets the look right but falls a bit short in the screenwriting.
In brief, it's the story of a disgraced Philly cop who comes to Atlantic City to try to repair his career as well as his relationship with his estranged wife and daughter. It has all the noir essentials: mobsters, corrupt cops, drugs, gambling and some illicit sex thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately it also has one or two more subplots than it needs, the end result being a loss of focus and plausibility.
Akinnuoye-Agbaje is actually quite good as the lead character and we can feel his struggle and disaffection. Heather Graham is good enough but her character is woefully under-developed. She is as much a plot device as a flesh and blood character. Reyna de Courcy, as "Surfer Girl" is quite literally a plot device as the film's superfluous and slightly annoying narrator. The much anticipated approaching hurricane is little more than a cheap metaphor for the foreboding that pervades the film and never amounts to much of anything.
What I liked best was the cinematography and the use of the landscape as character. But I need to confess, I grew up in Philly and still own a house at the Jersey Shore so, for me, it was a pleasure seeing areas I know on screen and trying to figure out where some of the unfamiliar locations were. (The home Babs rents is in an area called Grassy Sound, just north of Wildwood and is well worth a visit if you're in the area.) Still I don't think that's a prerequisite for enjoying this small, moody effort. You'll remember the feel of it long after you've forgotten the story.
