At the beginning of John Slattery’s second feature, Maggie Moore, he is advised that “some of this actually happened.” At least, this is a variation on the groaningly well-known “based on a true story,” even if both claims are equally nonsensical.
Whatever the degree of truth, this comedy thriller doesn’t succeed either way. Starring big names like Tina Fey and Jon Hamm, and set in a nondescript small town populated mostly by sad layoffs and losers, the movie struggles to get out of second gear. A terrified woman flees a large-scale killer, but her body is later found by Police Chief Sanders (Ham of Ham) and a down-to-earth lieutenant (Nick Mohammed). A few days earlier, another woman had been found charred inside her car. Two women murdered, two creepy spouses, one with the common name Maggie Moore.
Suspicions surface and Sanders launches a thorough investigation. Distracted by the recent loss of his wife, Mr. Sanders soothes the loss by reading his mean graffiti to his obsessed writing group, but is exhausted. He seems calm. So while the plot’s momentum is entirely due to the heroic efforts of Micah Stock and Christopher Denham as the husbands of the murdered Maggie Weasel, their comedic vigor is entirely in Paul Birnbaum’s script. ruined by the darkness of A hopelessly unhappy person is rarely laughable in an instant.
For that matter, you can also persuade lovers. So when Sanders sneaks into a relationship with chatty casino employee Rita (Faye), their scene is by no means believable for anything other than Hamm and Faye doing something extraordinarily boring. .
“I’m trying to be a little more spontaneous these days,” Sanders once confessed to Rita. “I hear women love it.”
Even Jon Hamm would have a hard time scoring in a conversation this awful.
Maggie Moore
Rated R for inappropriate language, offensive behavior, and unconvincing sex. Running time: 1 hour 39 minutes. at the theater.
