Texas neo-noir takes another buck around the rodeo. Two recent films, Ain't Them Bodies Saints and Cold in July, saw weak, greedy characters betray the stereotype of the strong, proud Texan; now sibling directors Simon and Zeke Hawkins rustle up another tale of Lone Star sin. BJ (Logan Huffman) steals $20,000 from the local gang boss and uses it to take his girlfriend, Sue (Mackenzie Davis), and his buddy Bobby (Jeremy Allen White), for a night on the town before they go off to college. Come the morning after, the money's missing and all three are implicated.
Huffman makes a convincing small-town blowhard, railing against his friends for wanting more out of life and falling for each other. The Hawkins brothers have style to spare, though they can't decide whether they've nabbed it from Richard Linklater or Sam Peckinpah. Linklater sells teenage dreams of escape through adventure; Peckinpah showed release through violent oblivion. The brothers don't know which approach they favour. They've got two ropes on the horse, pulling it in different directions. But it's got some kick.
