Along with horror flicks, crime stories are all the rage, on movie screens and television screens.  It seems to me that since the turn of the millennium (if not before), there has grown an unhealthy and rather perverse fascination with ordinary people either forced, coerced or simply deciding to do immoral, illegal and criminal things.  Part of this is rooted in our economy, which has not been positive for a long time for most people, yet there is a deeper, darker wellspring of distrust, envy and hate which seems to be fueling this generation of gruesome entertainment, and rather successfully.  The weirdest part, regarding this movie at least, is that it is somehow considered comic.

Potsy Ponciroli’s movie occurs in a small, quiet Carolina island town suddenly rocked by violence.  A new cop on his first day, Will (Himesh Patel), is intimidated by his roguish partner Terry (Joseph Gordon-Levitt); their miscommunication leads to a woman being accidentally killed.  Then they find the money.  Soon everyone connected to the woman is after the money, including a couple of contract killers.  And nobody is innocent.

This is one of those modern stories where irony is the name of the game.  It is ironic that the police, supposedly protecting the public, is instead putting people to death.  It is ironic that the real architect of the woman’s (intended) death is completely in the dark about her true fate.  It is ironic that, with a new life on the horizon, a pregnant character schemes to end someone else’s.  It is ironic that pretty soon everybody is at each other’s throats, literally and figuratively.  How ironic.  I’ve never been a fan of this type of story and I don’t see much humor in it.  It’s actually rather shameful that this type of story should be considered to be comedy, in my opinion.  Doesn’t anybody remember real comedy?  When things were actually funny?  It isn’t this.

So why two-and-a-half stars for a comedy that isn’t funny?  Because this non-funny crime story is actually pretty well made.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Uzo Aduba in particular provide sharply delineated performances.  The cast is very solid: Himesh Patel, Lily James, Tim Blake Nelson, Nina Arianda, Simon Rex, José Maria Yazpik, Jim Gaffigan, Joey Lauren Adams, Yingling Zhu and Traci Lords.  I didn’t recognize Gaffigan, although I knew his voice; I just couldn’t place it.  This is a very watchable story, a cinematic murder mystery with a lot of irony and a lot of death.  It just isn’t a comedy.  ☆ ☆ 1/2.  23 February 2025.