Missouri
is the home of barbecue spare ribs and Provel cheese, so maybe it’s not
surprising the villain of this Midwest border state noir is a weight loss
counselor. She sells a healthy lifestyle and not so healthy drugs.
Unfortunately, Thad Sitter got himself mixed up in her illicit business. When
he suddenly disappears under mysterious circumstances, his ex-wife will defy
the conspicuously unhelpful sheriff to find him in Thomas Rennier’s The Weight, which screens during the
2017 Sidewalk Film Festival.
Although
Thad and Julie Sitter divorced, they still care deeply for each other. It was
one of those complicated situations. Things weren’t so complicated between her
and Sheriff Crane. She just dumped him—end of story. Of course, that means he
has all kinds of bad attitude when she reports him missing. Sitter had been
working for Gayle Benson’s weight loss clinic, where he served as the primary
contact with her drug supplier. Benson sells a supposedly natural weight loss
supplement to her clients that is apparently some kind of amphetamine compound.
Obviously, this is problematic, but it also means it probably works. In any
event, when her regularly supplier shorts them, Benson deals out some disproportionate
payback, which Sitter is forced to clean-up. That also makes him a loose end.
When
Benson hires a low-rent hitman with an ugly toupee to kill Sitter, he takes to
the wind. Meanwhile, his wife’s Red Hot Riplet guzzling private investigator
Jake Liebig starts nosing around the weight loss center for clues. Obviously, this
will end badly for the majority of the characters, because that is how noirs
roll. Unfortunately, the film craters after a nifty hardboiled second act.
Despite
sharing little screen time together, Clayne Crawford and M.J. Brackin convince
us the Sitters really do still care for each other. However, the real fun comes
from Ken Hudson Campbell as Liebig, the private eye who looks rumpled and
slovenly on a good day. Likewise, Heather Roop is entertainingly catty as the ruthless
Benson.
