Stars: Patrick Wilson, Jessica Biel, Haley Bennett
Storyline
A psychological noir thriller set in 1960's New York based on Patricia Highsmith's novel, 'The Blunderer'. Walter Stackhouse is rich, successful and unhappily married to the beautiful but damaged Clara. His desire to be free of her feeds his obsession with Kimmel, a man suspected of brutally murdering his own wife. But when Clara is found dead in suspicious circumstances, Walter's string of lies and his own guilty thoughts seem enough to condemn him. As his life becomes dangerously entwined with Kimmel's, a ruthless cop is increasingly convinced he has found a copycat killer in Walter and aims to nail both murderers.
Writers: Susan Boyd, Patricia Highsmith, Patrick Wilson, Jessica Biel, Haley Bennett, Haley Bennett, Jessica Biel, Vincent Kartheiser, Patrick Wilson, Eddie Marsan, Radek Lord, Corrie Danieley, Michelle Poole, Jennifer Enskat, Chris Hill, Lucas Bentley, Jon Osbeck, Ken Strunk, Christine Dye, Angel Kerns, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Cast: Haley Bennett -
Ellie
Jessica Biel -
Clara Stackhouse
Vincent Kartheiser -
Detective Lawrence Corby
Patrick Wilson -
Walter Stackhouse
Eddie Marsan -
Kimmel
Radek Lord -
Tony Ricco
Corrie Danieley -
Betty Ireton
Michelle Poole -
Bus /
Bar Patron
Jennifer Enskat -
Mrs. Philpott
Chris Hill -
Bartender
Lucas Bentley -
Detective Jackson
Jon Osbeck -
Jon Caar
Ken Strunk -
Mr. Philpott
Christine Dye -
Claudia
(as Christine A. Dye)
Angel Kerns -
Movie Patron
Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 3 Jan 2016
Filming Locations: Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
A large majority of this movie was filmed in a small town on the Ohio river called New Richmond, Ohio See more »
User Review
Author:
Rating: 5/10
Film noir. Pulp fiction. Low lights and dim shadows. Smoky bars that
serve the finest rotgut and rooms that rent by the hour. The not so
smart guys and dolls that occupy this underworld are people the good
life never knew. Their existence is one of unabashed desperation,
seeking a way out to a life they never had or could play a part. Always
one big score, one stroke of luck, one horse or roll of the dice away
from trading the bad side of town for deliverance to a wistful world
that remains just outside their plaintive grasps. For these tortured
souls, a return to the big house is a welcome respite, death a
transition to the solace they could never find. Pitfalls arrive in the
form of a rival's murder they did not commit, a robbery by an old pal
while they were asleep, but somehow, being a "usual suspect," they
dissemble while innocent when the inevitable knock on the door arrives,
which eventually leads to their sometimes undeserved tragic end.
Enter "A Kind of Murder," a not so pulpy attempt at the classic genre.
The lighting is foreboding, the shadows disguise, the mood is set, but
then the movie starts and we get something else. It is as if the makers
of this film tried to make "The Blue Dahlia" with the wrong characters.
Clara Stackhouse, played by Jessica Biel ("Hitchcock," "The
Illusionist") represents the stereotypical bored, hysterical, boozed
and suicidal sixties housewife, dressed in suburban splendor in her
taffeta hoop skirts, pearls and white gloves. At no point does she
evoke the noir broad, the tough Barbara Stanwick-type chick who "don't
take no guff off nobody." We're supposed to believe that she is the
most successful real estate agent in her region, but the only
indication we have that she has a career is a couple of lines from her
boss. Her manic-depressive character would have been more believable if
they had made her Madmen's iconic Betty Draper, pushing a vacuum while
knocking back highballs.
Patrick Wilson ("Fargo," "The Watchmen") is wasted in this poor man's
B- movie role as Walter Stackhouse, a pathological liar on a strange
guilt trip because he imagined life without Clara. He's got everything,
successful architectural practice, sprawling suburban home, cool car
and beautiful wife reminiscent of Talking Head's "Once in a Lifetime,"
but he's trapped playing the role of the desperate two-time loser with
nothing at stake. The power couple we are presented ("he builds 'em,
she sells 'em") simply doesn't fit. Wilson is forced to channel his
best Alan Ladd while making every inexplicable mistake a murder suspect
can muster, digging his own grave with every word he utters. You want
to shout "Stop talking!" at the screen. He should have taken his
partner's advice and taken some time off. We'll have to wait for Wilson
to land a leading role he can sink his teeth into.
The hard-boiled detective, played by Vincent Kartheiser (Peter
Campbell- "Madmen") is straight out of a bad B-movie playbook. As
pathetic as the perps he pursues, he concocts one crazy theory after
another, committed to solving crimes with his gut rather than seek
actual evidence. Stackhouse's mindboggling series of lies does nothing
but encourage Kartheiser's unwavering, emotionally driven methods.
Unfortunately, once the investigation picks up speed the story becomes
frustratingly convoluted and remains so. His flights of fancy make it
impossible to discern what he's trying to accomplish. Mark McPherson
("Laura"), a stellar noir detective, would have slapped him silly.
The movie ends on a fitful note. Kimmel (Eddie Marsan –"Ray Donovan,"
"Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell"), a psychopath who actually did commit
murder, panics after one of Kartheiser's nonsensical threats, later
finding his solace via death by bullets in a dark basement. Just what
one would expect if the movie was about him. The problem is Kimmel's
story is unrelated to Stackhouse's problems outside of convenient
logistics, and provides no resolution to the principal story. We leave
not knowing whether Kartheiser continued investigating Stackhouse or
simply gave up. One could conjure the image of a conversation between
him and his police chief a la "Burn After Reading," where they decide
Stackhouse is simply too stupid to have murdered his wife. The line,
"If we convicted husbands for wishing their wives dead, there would not
be enough prisons to hold them" comes to mind. In the end, "A Kind of
Murder" is kind of noir, but misses the mark.
0