Maggie Moore(s): Movie Review

Cast: Jon Hamm, Tina Fey, Nick Mohammed, Micah Stock, Christopher Denham

Director: John Slattery

Two former Mad Men reunite both in front and behind the camera for this crime-comedy caper that wants to be a bit Fargo-esque, but ends up more of a muddle than anything massively coherent.

Hamm stars as a sheriff's deputy and would-be writer in a small town who is called in to investigate the death of Maggie Moore, a woman found shot to death in a motel parking lot. But as he looks further into the case, a series of coincidences and crimes bind themselves tightly together...

"Some of this actually happened," the film's opening titles claim but if that's true, it remains to be seen how Slattery failed to translate any of the tension and insanity of this story into anything thrilling or enjoyable over the course of its 90 minutes.

There's more chemistry between the two deputies than Hamm has with romantic interest Fey throughout. Mohammed and Hamm make for a compelling double act with the Ted Lasso star's understated and cynical performance cutting through anything Hamm does.

It helps little that the script clearly doesn't quite have a strong grasp on its potentially zanier edges, and while there are moments toward the end that both shock and shine, despite its short run time, it's a long journey to get there.

There's a feeling of a shaggy dog story in Maggie Moore(s) and a desire to recapture some of the kind of dark gallows humour that Fargo made such a great fist of - but unfortunately, this tale of double murder and body doubles barely raises any kind of emotion other than frustration from beginning to end.

Maggie Moore(s) is playing as part of the Terror-Fi Film Festival.