For those who don't know, the Blacklist is a list of the best unproduced scripts in Hollywood.

I saw where it had potential, although was telegraphing that it wasn't so good at the beginning. My guess is that the director, Matt Shakman (TV director, heavily with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) got in over his head or had less and less resources, as it apparently was made over two years.

My first impression of the set-up was asking why the shooter didn't notice Hemmesworth and his girlfriend so close. Thus, that brought me out of the movie. It made up for it somewhat as I then guessed the whole scam when Hemmesworth was reading the very obvious and large sign in the Post Office about murdering postal employees. In a town that never has murders.

But then made me think that it was engineered as stupid as most of things like that require a conviction of the perpetrator. Thus, a very forced plot device.

But okay, I gave it the benefit of the doubt. Besides, it had a very good cast (except for the pedestrian Hemmesworth and Teresa Palmer). But did have some poor production values.

And in the end it just felt sloppy.

Malcovich had somewhat amusing character traits but then the epilogue of him not escaping the town years before was vague.

Maybe there was something interesting there with the psyco played by Michael Stuhlbarg, but apparently they never shot it or cut it out. I could see if he was so proficient in killing and fighting on a regular basis, but it seemed like this was new for him and he was magically very good. But Stuhlberg still made something interesting out of what he had.

Thus, quite a bit was missed. Maybe there's a much better 2 hour version somewhere vs. the 1 1/2 hours I saw.

In the end, it was a few dumbasses with a dumbass (badly researched) plan that got way out of hand.

Dwayne McLaren (Liam Hemsworth) is tired of small town life in Cut Bank, MT. He's filming his girlfriend Cassandra Steeley (Teresa Palmer) when he catches the murder of mailman Georgie Wits (Bruce Dern). He hopes to cash in on the $100k reward from the post office. He works for Cassandra's dad Big Stan Steeley (Billy Bob Thornton) who dislikes and distrusts him. Sheriff Vogel (John Malkovich) investigates the town's first ever murder with the arrival of postal investigator Joe Barrett (Oliver Platt). The scam starts to unravel with murderous Derby Milton (Michael Stuhlbarg) looking for his lost package.

This has a nice neo-noir crime vibe. There's nothing wrong with paying homage if it's done well. The problem is that I don't think Dwayne's scheme would actually work in the real world. There are some good actors here. It is speaking the noir language but it is a bit flat. It doesn't elevate the intensity.

Somehow studios seem to be under the mistaken impression that by mentioning a comparison to "Fargo", their movie is going to magically be embraced by the theater going public. Any comparison of "Cut Bank" to "Fargo" is plain and simple false advertising. The film lacks Fargo's black humor, character development, and most importantly a clever script. The film does get the most from the talent of fine actors like John Malkovich, Bruce Dern, and Billy Bob Thornton , on this contrived drivel. None of the characters are developed, and none are even remotely likable. This is not Fargo-like, but is acceptable entertainment. - MERK