Don McKay (2009)

Thanks for the memories!

Pretty Good

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

"Don McKay" is marketed as an edgy thriller, that's probably because they had no idea how to categorize it.The movie begins as a cross between a romantic drama, a character study, and a dark thriller. Don McKay, played brilliantly by Thomas Haden Church, returns to his hometown by a letter from his high school girlfriend, Sunny (Elisabeth Shue). That's the romantic drama aspect. But we quickly learn that there's something not quite right about Sunny, there's something not quite right with most people in the town, and McKay has dark secrets to his past. We are always on the lookout for creepy turns and shadows around every corner. Those are the dark thriller aspects.It seems as if it's going to be a character study, but its really not about McKay himself. It's ultimately plot-driven and the mysterious problems that McKay gets himself into. I was riveted throughout.I actually highly recommend "Don McKay" because it's cleverly written to throw its audience off-guard, it's completely original, and these film-makers know what they are doing. And no matter what genre you decide it is by the end, it won't be what you thought it was at the beginning.

Unfortunately, this movie has fallen into the hand of very incapable play-writer. (Yet, at the end of the movie, Don's reply to the detective's comment of "You're crazy" : "No, I'm just lonely") does move me profoundly and make me remember this movie for the rest of my life!) The movie has good main actors and actresses, sadly they fall into the hand of a lousy director. Some of the scenes even make you feel they are performing in a comedy-film.The camera-shooting and film-editing is poor enough to be graded "C".However, this is one of the very very few bad movies that could attract me to keep on watching up to the end. Its plot is excellent in aspect of suspense and romance. And you know that the actors and actresses (they by themselves are excellent) in this movie could be spotted much more brilliant if given a better director. May be it is the reason why this movie's popularity has shot up drastically ( Up 1,303% in popularity this week according to IMDb's Moviemeter).The release of this movie has rid the opportunity for other more capable movie-makers to produce a much better version: most people, having known the plot and story, would not watch a suspense / thriller movie a second time.

I went to see "Don McKay" with some friends last night; it wasn't really on my movie radar because there hasn't been a big ad campaign, but it was thoroughly entertaining! I didn't really know what to expect; it appeared to be a thriller and although I would categorize it as that, I was surprised at how funny it was.Seriously, the whole audience seemed to be caught up in the plot - the pace and the twists and turns leave you a little breathless at times, but belly-laughing as well. I'm actually considering seeing it again since it's one of those movies that you might want to re-watch and "look for clues."Thomas Haden Church is perfect as Don the lonely janitor leading a solitary mundane life, pining for his lost love. He has an expressive face that is compelling as he is in turns beguiled, curious, confused, frustrated, and desperate.Elisabeth Shue as Sunny is a complete wackadoo, I don't know how else to put it… she is manipulative to the extreme and it's entertaining to see her in action, turning on the charm and wrapping Don around her finger. She takes full advantage of Don's vulnerability; it seems at times Don is vaguely aware of being played, but is enjoying the attention of this sexy creature so much that he willingly goes along for the ride.Melissa Leo appears as Sunny's uptight and prim caregiver. If you've seen her in other films, just the sight gag of her character is amusing enough, but I daresay that she delivers some of the best lines in the film.There are several character actors whom I recognized as "that guy! I love him - he was so great in…" who fill out the cast. They may not be household names, but you've seen them countless times before. I especially liked Keith David as Otis but they all delivered solid performances.I don't want to give too much of the plot away, but suffice it to say that there is a lot of double-crossing going on. Although the viewer may be wondering what the hell is going on in the middle, everything becomes clear by the final act.

Or maybe this could be subtitled as "the little movie that thought it was good…" …Or maybe I should re-phrase it as, "the little movie that tried too be good," or "the little movie that didn't know what it was"- the list can go on and on. But let's just say if it wasn't for Thomas Haden Church serving as the executive producer in this, the movie wouldn't be where it is now: RELEASED.It starts out mundane when we open with the titled character "Don McKay" (played by Church), doing his unremarkable duties as a high school janitor in Massachusetts (but probably filmed outside of L.A.). From there, he meets his supposed ex-girlfriend played by Elisabeth Shue who is dying from an unexplained condition. And of course, it never occurs to Church to ask why this attractive 40-something is dying when she doesn't even look sick or peaked. Doesn't that seem rather odd? It's weird to begin with in how Church goes up to see her in the first place (because that too, never seems to be explained)- and I don't want to edify the synopsis since this film is so mediocre and forgettable at the get-go. Let's just say that what seems to be somewhat of a quirky and pedestrian indie-film turns to switch to such a violent tone so abruptly, that it looks like two different films we're watching. And it's impossible to care for these characters or root for them in any way. But oh-well… Then there's the recurring theme that Church has lost touch with all of these supporting characters for 25 years. And it's so coincidental that none of these people have lives- or moved on with families since high school- but then that would ruin the whole "plot" to the movie if they did, so we just need to accept this. What galls me is the fact that Church even did this in the first place: his career never really took off after "Sideways," but I've never seen him in a more or equally memorable role since. And he was one of the best things to that film, IMO. Elisabeth Shue does a little more than I've seen her do in most mainstream movies, but there's really nothing likable about her in this (except she wears a slip through a third of the film). I guess I liked Keith David the most who showed more dimensionality than anyone else (and probably had about seven minutes of screen time).I'd just wait for this to come out on DVD. And I STILL wouldn't recommend it unless you absolutely, positively have to watch SOMETHING for 87 minutes.