From the outset, ‘Cut Bank’ looks like it could be the new ‘Fargo’, but sadly it is nothing of the sort. You see, ‘Fargo’ is an ironic, funny, and emotional look at some seemingly less than intelligent folks in a dark murder mystery. ‘Cut Bank’ is just a silly story about a bunch of idiots that make a bunch of mistakes and people get dead. Luckily, the actors filling out the cast are good enough to make it feel like only a partial waste of time.
The story begins in a promising fashion. We meet Bruce Dern as a friendly mailman and a get a look at the beautiful small town of Cut Bank. The town is comprised of a couple important characters. There is the sheriff (John Malkovich), a local businessman (Billy Bob Thornton), his daughter (Teresa Palmer), her boyfriend (Liam Hemsworth), and the town weirdo (Michael Stuhlberg). They all cross paths after the boyfriend character (aptly named Dwayne) accidentally films the murder of the mailman.
At least, we think it’s an accident for about 3 minutes before it’s revealed that Dwayne and the mailman are conspiring to get a reward from the post office. Their plan might have worked out if it weren’t for the fact that the town loon (named Derby Milton) happened to have a package on the truck the mailman supposedly got killed right outside of. Derby really wants that package so bad! In fact, he wants it so badly that he will kill multiple people to get it.
What’s in that package that he’s willing to kill for? I asked the thing almost the entire movie and I’ll just tell you that you are going to be disappointed. Truthfully, you’re going to be disappointed by most things in this movie. It wants so much to be a darkly funny Coen Brothers movie, but never hits the right mark or finds the proper tone. It’s just kind of there and kind of funny every so often. Mostly though, it’s just kind of stupid.
The arguments the characters have are stupid most of the time. The situations are mostly stupid. Hell, even the reason for all the drama is stupid. So, as much as you might have hoped this was the new Coen Brothers movie, it’s not. Stay away.
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