Don McKay

If you don’t think the idea of two back-to-back murders committed with a foil-wrapped steak is funny, director Jake Goldberger’s comedic thriller “Don McKay” probably isn’t for you. The film—Goldberger’s first—aims to be darkly humorous with this incident and others even more absurd, but garners laughs mostly at its own expense. Despite a talented cast including Thomas Hayden Church (“Sideways”) and Elisabeth J. Shue ’00 (“Leaving Las Vegas”), the script lacks the subtlety and confidence to pull off the sophisticated black humor to which it aspires.

Down-on-his-luck janitor Don McKay (Church) receives a letter from his high school sweetheart Sonny (Shue), informing him that she is critically ill and wants to see him before she dies. Abandoning his swiffer, he rushes to her side—but what begins as a redemptive romantic comedy turns twisted and eerie as soon as Don sets foot in his hometown. Sonny differs greatly from the girl McKay remembers, and seems strangely vital for a dying woman. Her caretakers, live-in nurse Marie (Melissa Leo) and Dr. Lance Pryce (James Rebhorn), are on suspiciously intimate terms with their patient. Remembering their long history together, Sonny asks Don to share her bed, and the two sleep together on his first night back. The following morning Dr. Pryce assaults Don in a rage, and he kills the doctor in self-defense, stashing him in the backyard.

When Don receives a phone call from the dead Dr. Pryce advising him to get out of town, he does so, despite Sonny’s pleas. But when she begs him to return a few months later, he somewhat inexplicably obliges, only to be further manipulated and taken advantage of. During this second visit, identities are divulged one after the other, allegiances between characters switch every five seconds, and the plot dissolves into a convoluted mess that comes to a head in the aforementioned steak murder scene.

Goldberger intends this final segment, with its ridiculously rapid succession of plot twists and accusations flying back and forth, as a parody of a film noir murder mystery, in which the plot unfolds, the guilty reveal themselves, and all the pieces fall into place in one climactic scene. He is fairly successful—the series of deceitful maneuvers and murders is entertaining, and so absurd that it’s funny. Here, Goldberger successfully creates the satirical thriller he was aiming for.

Unfortunately, the majority of the film does not live up to these intentions. During the first hour, viewers are subjected to stilted dialogue and heavy-handed jokes. These awkward one-liners often fall to Leo, in her role as the disturbingly cheerful and deceptively prim Marie. When McKay first arrives at Sonny’s house, he notices a “home sweet home” sign in the hallway, to which someone has attached a large axe. When he expresses his surprise, violins screech forebodingly, and Marie answers, “You never know when you may need an axe!” Though Leo’s performance is genuinely creepy and amusing, her delivery could not prevent this hackneyed line from falling flat.

Another similar moment occurs the morning after Don sleeps with Sonny. He comes across Marie tending the garden, and when he declines her invitation to join in the work, she replies, “I suppose you’ve spilled enough seed in the house already.” These lines are so over-the-top, that perhaps they would have benefited from correspondingly exaggerated performances by the actors. But Goldberger and his cast for the most part insist on taking characters seriously, creating an effect that is disturbing and bizarre without being larger-than-life—or funny.

On the other hand, Shue does overact in her role as Sonny, and it just feels even more stilted and awkward.  Hayden Church’s performance is more compelling. As a primarily comic actor—he played the sex-crazed bachelor Jack in “Sideways” and the laughable villain of  “George of the Jungle”—he is good at balancing a sense of humor with the demands of playing a more serious, troubled character.

Overall, “Don McKay” has some fun moments and talented actors, but suffers from serious tonal problems. Though it is clear that Goldberger wanted to create a black comedy, the cast’s serious performances, which would be more effective in a straightforward  drama, never mesh with the absurd scenarios in which they find themselves.