Maggie Moore(s), 2023
Directed by John Slattery
Starring Jon Hamm, Tina Fey, Micah Stock, Nick Mohammed, Happy Anderson, Christopher Denham, Mary Holland, Louisa Krause, Nicholas Azarian, Allison Dunbar, Tate Ellington, Bobbi Kitten, Oona Roche, Peter Diseth, Richard Lippert, Derek Basco, and Jodi Lynn Thomas.
SYNOPSIS:
Maggie Moore(s) takes place in a dusty desert town where nothing ever happens, as a police chief is suddenly faced with the back-to-back murders of two women with the same name.
Between a revolving door of obscenely irritating characters competing for screen time across a mystery where everything is more or less solved 30 minutes into the movie for everyone except the small desert town police chief, veteran actor John Slattery’s directorial debut Maggie Moore(s) is an aggressively unpleasant comedy that quickly writes itself into a corner (the screenplay is from Paul Bernbaum). The solution: force more bland drama and desperately try to keep the sociopathic actions of one major character going. For the remaining hour, one sits there waiting for the police to catch up to the audience, which becomes boring fast.
Jay and Maggie Moore (played by Micah Stock and Mary Holland) get into a verbal fight once the latter discovers that her partner, unbeknownst to him, is smuggling child porn inside a sealed envelope to a business associate that provides him with moldy ingredients to keep his subway sandwich shop running at a more affordable cost. Naturally, Maggie doesn’t care whether Jay is telling the truth; she is shocked and wants nothing to do with this increasing framework of a man. Jay also doesn’t want her to leave, so he hires a deaf hitman (Happy Anderson, amusing in a role demanding a unique brand of comedic intimidation) to scare her into staying together. Unsurprisingly, the job goes south, and he kills her.
That’s the murder of one Maggie Moore. Jay remembers a grocery store clerk mentioned a second Maggie Moore, confused while ringing up his order and checking the computer system. He then decides to rehire the hitman to murder the second Maggie Moore so that the killings appear connected in a manner not tied to him. The premise is ripe for hilarity, especially for someone that enjoys watching despicable human beings further dig their own grave under the guise of a comedy, but Micah Stock’s performance is flat-out annoying, constantly screeching and whining about something.
Even when Micah Stock plays the traumatized and heartbroken victim card for his selfish gain when health inspectors come down hard on his shop, it’s easy to hate him, but not necessarily in a way that makes the film compelling or engaging. He is a garbage person that’s not interesting or fun to watch. The nastiness and narcissism of the character don’t feel organic. To be fair, playing up his actual pedophile associate as a wacky sidekick character is far more misguided and uncomfortable.
Wedged into this is a bizarre romantic comedy plot where Jon Hamm’s police captain Jordan Sanders discovers that he might be capable of loving again and moving on from the death of his wife, flirting and getting close to the next-door neighbor of Maggie Moore #1, Tina Fey’s bored and lonely Rita, who also overheard the fight the couple got into. Together with his partner deputy Reddy (Nick Mohammed), who has a lame running joke of saying inappropriate things during investigations and interrogations, they attempt to put together the pieces that have already been put together for us.
It appears that Maggie Moore(s) is intentionally less about the mystery and more of a story about perception and finding happiness and how some individuals struggle in those mental and emotional battles, which is random and rings hollow. Jon Hamm and Tina Fey deserve credit for bringing professional, respectable performances here, but viewers deserve Moore substance.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
