Small Town Crime

Mike's an alcoholic ex-cop (John Hawkes) who can't get back on the force and doesn't want to do anything else finds a girl dying by the side of the road. Her phone gets left behind in his car, and after answering it and talking with an angry pimp, decides to try and investigate on his own, pretending to be an p.i. The cops aren't happy about this, the angry pimp is still out there, and worse threats than either of them are moving in as well. Plus, Mike isn't the most competent guy even when he's sober. He's just stubborn and willing to be enough of a jerk to get answers.

There's nobody particularly competent in this movie. They aren't screw-ups, but everyone seems to make things harder than it needs to be. Two hired killers are running around trying to eliminate some witnesses, but are making a mess of it. Killing way more people than necessary to get this job done. Mike's not a very good liar, but he gets by half the time because people want to believe whatever particular line he's feeding them. It's the best they can get at the moment. The cops say they want Mike to keep his nose out of the case, but aren't doing a very good job enforcing that. They aren't doing a very good job solving the case, either.

There are a couple of brief chase sequences that aren't bad, the final shootout is OK, as far as messy shootouts go. There are a couple of funny lines in there, some decent quiet moments in the scenes between Mike and his sister and her husband (played by Octavia Spencer and Anthony Anderson, respectively). The end of the movie is saying something. Mike hasn't addressed his underlying problems, but he got what he wanted more or less, and didn't have to change much. Hooray?

That sounds harsh, and I actually liked the movie. It mostly zips along, doesn't waste more time than it has to on side characters. Gives you enough so you recognize them if they become important later, sticks to the main characters otherwise.