God's Pocket contains one of the last performances of the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman, and that alone makes it worth watching.
It also boasts a fantastic cast of character actors, and marks the feature directorial debut of Mad Men's John Slattery.
Unfortunately, a feeling of malaise blankets the whole film, and makes the final product feel like it's lacking.
Based on the book by Peter Dexter, God's Pocket is a story that probably works much better on page.
In a book, you can get to know the inner workings of the characters; you can delve deeper into their motivations and their reasoning.
As a film though, the characters-as well performed as they may be by the excellent actors-seem empty and flat.
Set in a Philadelphia neighborhood, the film tells the story of Mickey (Hoffman).
He's a thief who steals and re-sells meat with his partner Bird (John Turtorrro).
Mickey lives with his wife Jeanie (Christina Hendricks) and his stepson Leon (Caleb Landry Jones).
Leon is clearly some kind of sociopath; he's constantly popping pills, talking about killing cats, brandishing a razor, and hurling vile racism at his one black co-worker.
One day at work, Leon's nastiness catches up with him, and he's killed.
However, it turns out everyone at work equally hates Leon, so they are all perfectly willing to cover up the murder as an accident.
Jeanie smells something fishy.
She only thinks the best of her late son, and is determined to find out just what happened to him.
This sends Mickey on a mostly empty quest to find the truth.
At least, that's what is set up.
But Mickey spends almost no time looking into this mystery.
Instead, he's busy gambling, and trying to find a way to pay for his stepson's expensive funeral.
Through all of this, a local drunkard newspaper writer named Richard Shellburn (the always wonderful Richard Jenkins) is writing a story about Leon's death, while simultaneously making sexual advances on Jeanie.
Jeanie puts up with these advances, but it's not quite clear how she feels about Richard.
There is a lot to like about God's Pocket.
Slattery has a wonderful eye for framing his shots, and he is clearly an actor's director, giving all of the cast moments to shine.
Pretty much every single performance on display here is splendid, particularly Eddie Marsan as a delightfully crooked undertaker.
But as good as Slattery is with framing his film and directing his actors, he struggles to find a correct tone.
The film shifts from goofy light comedy to gory violence at the drop of a hat, and while this may have been intentional, the results are just jarring and don't work.
Slattery does an excellent job of capturing a sense of place; the neighborhood and its inhabitants all seem genuine and lived-in.
It's just that the story surrounding them struggles to find its direction, and the film ends with an epilogue that seems so out of place I momentarily thought it was a dream sequence.
God's Pocket isn't a failure, but for a film with such immensely talented people involved with it, it's not exactly a success either.
6/10
It also boasts a fantastic cast of character actors, and marks the feature directorial debut of Mad Men's John Slattery.
Unfortunately, a feeling of malaise blankets the whole film, and makes the final product feel like it's lacking.
Based on the book by Peter Dexter, God's Pocket is a story that probably works much better on page.
In a book, you can get to know the inner workings of the characters; you can delve deeper into their motivations and their reasoning.
As a film though, the characters-as well performed as they may be by the excellent actors-seem empty and flat.
Set in a Philadelphia neighborhood, the film tells the story of Mickey (Hoffman).
He's a thief who steals and re-sells meat with his partner Bird (John Turtorrro).
Mickey lives with his wife Jeanie (Christina Hendricks) and his stepson Leon (Caleb Landry Jones).
Leon is clearly some kind of sociopath; he's constantly popping pills, talking about killing cats, brandishing a razor, and hurling vile racism at his one black co-worker.
One day at work, Leon's nastiness catches up with him, and he's killed.
However, it turns out everyone at work equally hates Leon, so they are all perfectly willing to cover up the murder as an accident.
Jeanie smells something fishy.
She only thinks the best of her late son, and is determined to find out just what happened to him.
This sends Mickey on a mostly empty quest to find the truth.
At least, that's what is set up.
But Mickey spends almost no time looking into this mystery.
Instead, he's busy gambling, and trying to find a way to pay for his stepson's expensive funeral.
Through all of this, a local drunkard newspaper writer named Richard Shellburn (the always wonderful Richard Jenkins) is writing a story about Leon's death, while simultaneously making sexual advances on Jeanie.
Jeanie puts up with these advances, but it's not quite clear how she feels about Richard.
There is a lot to like about God's Pocket.
Slattery has a wonderful eye for framing his shots, and he is clearly an actor's director, giving all of the cast moments to shine.
Pretty much every single performance on display here is splendid, particularly Eddie Marsan as a delightfully crooked undertaker.
But as good as Slattery is with framing his film and directing his actors, he struggles to find a correct tone.
The film shifts from goofy light comedy to gory violence at the drop of a hat, and while this may have been intentional, the results are just jarring and don't work.
Slattery does an excellent job of capturing a sense of place; the neighborhood and its inhabitants all seem genuine and lived-in.
It's just that the story surrounding them struggles to find its direction, and the film ends with an epilogue that seems so out of place I momentarily thought it was a dream sequence.
God's Pocket isn't a failure, but for a film with such immensely talented people involved with it, it's not exactly a success either.
6/10
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