Quirky goes a surprisingly long way before stalling out in “Don McKay,” an oddball comedy with the knowing, festering heart of a neo-noir. Thomas Haden Church, lips flat-lining, voice droning, plays the title character, a school janitor in a lonely place whose life takes a detour after he receives a blast out of the past. Somewhere in the night a phantom lady beckons. Suddenly Don heads down mystery street, unaware that he’s about to tread dangerous ground alongside the writer and director Jake Goldberger. In the reckless moment the damned don’t cry: they kiss tomorrow goodbye and pile on the movie allusions.
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The siren summoning Don back home is Sonny (a vamping Elisabeth Shue), his former high-school sweetheart who appears to be suffering from the same illness that afflicted Carol Burnett’s Nora Desmond (diagnosis: overacting). Along with her leery, leering nurse, Marie (Melissa Chessington Leo), Sonny lives in a white house nestled in an isolated pocket of green. There are no visible neighbors with prying eyes, just a doctor, Lance Pryce (James Rebhorn), with an inappropriate stethoscope. Something seems askew — the fitful, awkward laughs have an uneasy undercurrent — but Mr. Goldberger doesn’t reveal his hand until he restages the scene from Billy Wilder’s “Double Indemnity” in which Barbara Stanwyck, born to kill in sunglasses and a blond wig, shops and schemes with Fred MacMurray.
Ms. Shue is no Stanwyck, of course, but she bounces from one narrative right angle to the next with melodramatic vigor, laughing and weeping and tugging at the increasingly bewildered Don, who seems happy to yield. Although an early shot of Don cleaning up a generous pool of blood while on the job broadly foreshadows the violence to come, Mr. Goldberger tends to let his actors do most of the work. There might not be much going on in terms of framing and camera moves, but when you pack your movie with performers like Mr. Church, Ms. Leo, Mr. Rebhorn and Keith David (as Don’s old friend), all with faces and deliveries that can slide easily between comedy and menace, you’re holding a full house.
It’s no surprise that Mr. Goldberger cites those wisenheimers, the Coen brothers, as an influence on “Don McKay,” specifically “Blood Simple.” The Coens are nimble magpies, with noir a reliable source of inspiration. “Blood Simple” was heavily informed by cinematic noir and literary pulp fiction — including both James M. Cain’s novel “Double Indemnity” and Wilder’s blissful take of the same — as were Coen brothers films like “The Big Lebowski” (a gloss on “The Big Sleep”) and “The Man Who Wasn’t There” (“Double Indemnity” yet again). This makes Mr. Goldberger something of a second-generation magpie — he has even cast M. Emmet Walsh, who plays a pivotal role in “Blood Simple,” as a cabby here — which helps explain the appeal of “Don McKay” and its limitations.
Certainly it’s a bit of a self-flattering kick to see Mr. Church and the rest of this likable cast revisiting the twisted themes from classic noir. As with that “Double Indemnity” shopping scene, you recognize the allusion, smile (or not) and wait for the payoff. The problem is that for the reference to have any meaningful resonance you need to be familiar with the Wilder film, which in turn sets up a level of expectation that Mr. Goldberger and the cast can’t meet. If you don’t recognize the reference, well, you might wonder what Don sees in this dame with the wild eyes and endless supply of negligees. The answer is surprisingly moving and suggests that Mr. Goldberger once envisioned telling a very different movie.
“Don McKay” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Murder, my sweet.
DON MCKAY
Opens on Friday in New York, Los Angeles and Boston.
Written and directed by Jake Goldberger; director of photography, Phil Parmet; edited by Andrew Dickler; music by Steve Bramson; production designer, Aleta Shaffer; costumes by Andrew Poleszak; produced by Jim Young; released by Image Entertainment. Running time: 1 hour 27 minutes.
WITH: Thomas Haden Church (Don McKay), Elisabeth Shue (Sonny), Melissa Chessington Leo (Marie), James Rebhorn (Dr. Lance Pryce), Pruitt Taylor Vince (Mel), Keith David (Otis) and M. Emmet Walsh (Samuel).
