A stoic former convict reluctantly teams up with his would-be victim in this off-kilter film by Jeffrey Reiner.
In “Lake George,” what initially carries the air of a gritty crime drama makes way for an off-kilter neo-noir comedy that, at its best, reaches for the blood-splattered sardonicism of a Coen brothers film.
While looking out at the Glendale, Calif., skyline, a cartoonish goon named Armen (Glenn Fleshler) wistfully recalls his on-and-off-again girlfriend, Phyllis (Carrie Coon), whom he wants Don (Shea Whigham), a down-and-out ex-convict, to kill. But it’s a job that Don doesn’t have the stomach for, and soon enough, Phyllis convinces Don to team up with her to hit Armen’s safe houses and abscond with the loot.
It’s Coon’s charming performance of the eccentric victim-to-be that brings the film, written and directed by Jeffrey Reiner, into fuller focus as a crime comedy. She and Whigham, a welcome lead role for the consistently remarkable character actor, work together nicely, forming an odd couple of a trigger-happy yapper and her stoic, softhearted counterweight.
Yet, scoring and shooting through the downcast eyes of Don, the film often can’t quite decide what, tonally, it wants to be as a film — either a serious crime noir or a sarcastic one. But, then again, a good film can still manage to balance both, even imperfectly, and across Don and Phyllis’s string of botched jobs, “Lake George” is more than enough fun in its attempt.
Lake George
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 58 minutes. In theaters.
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
