rooprect With dark comedies, the ratio of comedy to darkness is what gives a film its identity. Many modern filmmakers put an emphasis on darkness and disturbing situations like Tarantino ("Pulp Fiction") and the Coen Brothers ("Fargo"), whereas others hail from the old school approach of keeping violence to a minimum and instead drawing humor from the bizarre ways the characters act around it, such as in "Arsenic & Old Lace" (1944) or "Deathtrap" (1982).Here in "Don McKay" we fall squarely into the old school style. There is 1 death early in the film, and the rest of the film is about the mysterious and absurd criss-crossings of schemes from each character whose intentions we don't know until the end. Apologies to Tarantino & the Coens (whose films I really like), but I prefer this sort of approach because, although it may sacrifice thrills & action, it's ultimately a style that you can enjoy on a deeper psychological level.Don McKay (Thomas Hayden Church whom I'll always remember as the lovably slow mechanic in the 80s sitcom "Wings") is a lonely man whose entire life consists of cleaning the floors at a Boston high school. One day he receives a mysterious letter that prompts him to drop everything and hop a bus to his hometown which, by the gorgeous scenery, looks like the Pacific northwest but they're not specific. Once there, he gets wrapped up in murder, mayhem and memories. And although this is not a whodunnit, it becomes a fun mystery as we try to figure out who each character is, including our hero Don McKay, a man of very few words.Thomas Hayden Church is brilliantly cast in the lead role, almost reprising his humorously awkward role in Wings but with a deep, observant intelligence that gives the film depth. As we piece together the bizarre characters & circumstances surrounding the death, we are also hard at work trying to figure out what makes Don McKay tick and why he is apparently running from something. Thus, there are 2 stories unfolding at the same time, and the brilliant (and hilarious!) climactic scene pulls it all together in a way that's tense, funny, enlightening and unmistakably human.And let me dwell on that word for a minute: human. Although we are given no backstory to any of these oddball characters, each one comes across as very human. There are no wooden performances here, unless you count Thomas' deliberately wooden, stoic characterization of Don McKay. Elizabeth Shue absolutely blows this out of the park, playing a complex yet in many ways childlike character whom I can only compare to Vivien Leigh's famous performance in "Streetcar Named Desire". Melissa Leo plays a creepy, uptight nurse who is reminiscent of the demon child's nanny in "The Omen" haha. By the way, observe how her character's clothes & appearance become more frazzled & frenetic in each scene. Keith David, in one of the greatest comic-relief roles since the porter in Shakespeare's Macbeth, plays Don McKay's neurotic childhood friend, the perfect counterbalance to Thomas Hayden Church's emotionless enigma. And there are 2 fantastic bit roles (1) the cab driver played by Emmet Walsh who's been in everything from Blood Simple to Bladerunner; and (2) Pruitt Taylor Vince as "Mel" the dorky crook who looks like he would be more comfortable working at Best Buy than being part of any sort of murder story.I also give major old school points to the director for pulling off some hilarious sight gags. Not corny slapstick but funny visual compositions that had me LOLing (for example when Thomas & Melissa are in a car together, each totally distrusting the other, alternately stealing intense looks without the other person noticing). The final climactic scene with its brilliantly comedic script also had me LOLing, especially "So why don't you just drop the... AXE??" (as if to point out the hilarious note: who keeps an axe in their living room?).If you enjoy subtle situational humor, as in other indie gems like "Buffalo 66", "Grand Theft Parsons" or "The Maiden Heist" (sorry I can't think of any popular films to compare this to, except maybe "Punch Drunk Love"), then don't miss "Don McKay".

drpakmanrains Like many movies I see from Netflix, I never heard of this one until browsing for my queue. I have seen little of Thomas Haden Church since "Sideways", and Elizabeth Shue has been in many major and minor films, and I like thrillers usually, so I took a chance. The first third of the movie built slowly, and had a feeling of mystery and suspense and strange things going on. When Church first returns to his home town and sees Sunny, who is supposed to be dying of cancer, I immediately chuckled at how healthy she looked, figuring the director preferred to have an attractive lead over reality.As the film progressed, some scary moments occurred, as well as some darkly humorous ones, and for a while, I felt I was watching a terrific film. But like many movies in this genre, the promise of a logical explanation is sacrificed for either a convoluted complicated ending or a simple nonsensical one. This had more of the former than the latter, but it all happened so close to the end that it seemed more like a comedy than a thriller. Maybe that's what the director wanted, but it made the movie seem cheap and contrived. It reminded me of a better film "The Faculty", where one ending after another was piled on at the end in a "can you top this" fashion.Still, the movie held my attention, and I didn't fast forward, and though I felt a bit let down at the end, I still enjoyed it enough to give it a 7. I tend to be easy on grading movies, saving grades of 4 or less for boring films like "The English Patient" which was like watching grass grow, only slower. I had a smile on my face through much of Don McKay, along with a feeling of suspense. Worth a look.

Riptides What if you made a low/no budget movie about a con and by the end of the movie it came across as more confusing than smart? What if everything leading up to the final scenes were more boring than interesting? What if everyone acting in this film just mumbled through their cringe worthy lines? Well you'd have the movie Don McKay.This movie is so stilted it only starts to get interesting in maybe the last 20 minutes before the credits roll, anything before that is just, sadly, nothing about nothing. Within the first 10 minutes of the movie you, the viewer, know something is amiss but the movie gives no clues and drags out this expectation of answers until the very end. The rest of the movie is padded with allusions of something happening 25 years prior and by the time it's all tied up in the end, it's ridiculous that it's all been withheld for the entire running time.Honestly this would have been perfect fodder for a hour long TV episode of the crime/suspense type, and probably gotten a much better treatment on the small screen. The best con of this movie is the fact it separated you from your hard earned money just to waste an hour and half of your life, both of which you'll never get back.

chicagopoetry Despite how weird and confusing Don Mckay, aka Moment of Truth, is, it ends up being a pretty nifty mystery. A high school janitor goes back to his hometown to be reunited with his teenage sweetheart, only to get caught up in a complicated web of extortion involving an ex-husband, an inheritance, a mysterious disease and a murder. This is a VERY BIZARRE film, a mystery during which every other minute you say, what the heck is going on, until the ending wraps it all up. It features a very strange lead character as well, who is kind of grotesque and slow witted like Sling Blade. This is a very original movie. Have some patience and sit through it and you won't be disappointed.