Director: John Slattery
Writers: Paul Bernbaum
Stars: Jon Hamm, Louisa Krause, Tina Fey
Synopsis: Police Chief Sanders investigates the bizarre murders of two women with the same name and unravels a web of small-town lies. He meets and quickly falls for Rita, a nosy neighbor who is eager to help solve the mystery.
Films like Maggie Moore(s) rely on style over substance and, hopefully, a story and dialogue reminiscent of a great Elmore Leonard noir. Directed by Mad Men’s alum John Slattery, his second feature film behind the camera since God’s Pocket is a throwback to those ’90s crime films which the website CrimeReads called “The Leonardssance.” A movie that has an ear for snappy dialogue, how people really talk (mostly), quirky characters, satisfying crimes, and a killer villain. If only Slattery and the script by Paul Bernbaum left the listless romance at the deli counter.
The story follows a local police chief Jordan Sanders (Jon Hamm), who oversees the service and protection of the residents of a small, desert New Mexico town. It’s a quiet town where most adult characters seem to be searching for happiness in their mundane lives. That includes the police chief, who lost his wife recently to cancer and takes a night class to explore the power of creative writing, being fodder for divorced single women in the area. However, his job is about to get a lot more interesting, as not one but two women turn up dead, both with the same name.
Those are Maggie Moore, the only two women with that moniker. Bernbaum’s script is clever, playing with the timeline in the first act. One of the women (Louisa Krause) is the bitterly unhappy wife of Jay (Micah Stock), who is floundering in debt, trying to keep his sandwich shop open and pay for his wife’s psychiatry bills. To help make ends meet, he violates his franchise agreement by buying expired deli meats and cheeses at a discount from Tommy T (Derek Brasco) in exchange for being his mule for illegal packages. Jay soon discovers that the packages include filthy pictures of underage girls and Tommy is a known sex offender. Jay’s wife finds the envelope and plans on using it to take everything he owns.
Jay and Maggie’s neighbor is Rita (Tina Fey), the nosy type who watches them from her window, doesn’t have any friends, and is still dealing with the breakup of an abusive boyfriend. She is the last to see Maggie alive and soon develops a friendship with Sanders during the investigation. This pleases Sanders’s partner, Deputy Reddy, who thinks his boss needs to stop looking for an emotional connection and find a physical one. Together, they investigate links to the two cases in a desert full of lies, contract killers, and lonely souls to solve the mystery tailor-made for Keith Morrison.
You may find Maggie Moore(s) a tough initial watch, as the thought of a queasy mix of talking about a pedophile and pictures of rotting lunch meat makes for a revolting introduction. However, as the story progresses, the fascinating plot begins to top itself as the timeline takes shape, and the killers keep doubling down at the risk of exposure in covering up their actions. Part of the fun is watching Jay, played by Stock, continue to unravel. Stock has a natural talent for juggling subtle comedic levity and anxiety-filled tension, a mix of painfully funny and awkward moments unique to actor, writer, and director Jim Cummings.
What Slattery does so well is to maintain a seamless tone, even when the story shifts to Hamm and Fey’s characters developing a rapport. While the other character relationships have quick, quippy dialogue, andyou may feel the script could use a little more restraint, I couldn’t help but think that Rita and Jacob needed a little more quirk and heat in their interactions or even a dark secret or two. Their relationship feels like it was expanded beyond its limits to give the stars more screen time. That being said, there are some entertaining performances, particularly one of my favorites, the scene-stealing Mary Holland (The Package, Happiest Seasons), who plays the other Maggie, and Happy Anderson (Bird Box), a deaf contract killer who brings deft comic timing to a stoic role.
Maggie Moore(s) is based on actual events, though the scheme plays like Jerry Lundegaard’s harebrained plan, made famous in Fargo (and portrayed by William H. Macy). While Slattery’s film could never be confused with the Coen brothers’ black comedy masterpiece, Maggie Moore(s) is a darkly comic, Elmore Leonard-inspired tale. While the subplot of Hamm’s pursuit for happiness becomes too heavy-handed for my tastes by the end of the third act, the overall story is a quick shot of true crime adrenaline that becomes addictive by the film’s end.
