A
triple homicide has so profoundly shocked a small Mississippi town, they almost
consider canceling the big high school football game—almost. Instead, they
settle for some quick words of prayer before kick-off. After all, only one of
the victims is a local. Unfortunately, one of the outsiders happened to be a
congressman’s daughter. Once again, two FBI agents get a chilly reception in
Mississippi, but the bitter alcoholic one doesn’t do much to endear himself in
Miles Doleac’s The Hollow (trailer here), which opens this
Friday in New York.
As
cops go, meth-dealing sheriff’s deputy Ray Everett is one of the worst. Perversely,
he recommended the clearing by the lake to the out-of-towners as a good
make-out spot, even though he knew it attracted sketchy types. To make matters
worse, he was seen by at least one customer getting special consideration from
the third victim, “troubled” cheerleader Kami King. Ordinarily, he could keep a
garden variety triple homicide under wraps, but this is literally a Federal
case.
Everett
takes an instant dislike to Special Agent Vaughn Killinger, but to be fair,
almost everyone does. His ex-wife’s allegations of abuse nearly destroyed his career
and his relationship with his young son. These days, he mainly copes through binge
drinking. However, his partner, Agent Sarah Desoto still stands by him, even
though she feels guilty for allowing the affair that led to all his personal problems.
It seems strange the agency J. Edgar Hoover built lets them carry on as
partners, but whatever. In between hook-ups and flare-ups, they start sniffing
around Big John Dawson, the town’s shadowy benefactor and Everett’s not so
secret supplier.
It
is rather sadistically entertaining to see how dissipated and unruly James
Callis gets as Killinger. He drinks more than the cast of a Hong Sang-soo film
(in a dry county) and sweats more than Ned Beatty in Deliverance. Yet, somehow his chemistry with Christiane Seidel’s
Desoto kind of-sort of works. Dloeac himself just oozes pond-scummy sleaze as
Everett, while William Forsythe’s Big John Dawson chews the furniture and everything
else not nailed down like deep fried pickles. Unfortunately, 1990’s cult favorite
William Sadler (Die Hard 2, Tales from
the Crypt: Demon Knight) is grossly under-utilized as Sheriff Beau
McKinney.