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by Willie Waffle

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Undertow

It's that time of the year when we have plenty of big and small movies opening up each week. I'll try to give you info on all of them, but don't be surprised if I write a short review of those movies that don't need much analysis. Yes, I'm making excuses for this review of Undertow.

Jamie Bell stars as Chris - a troubled young man being raised by his widower father, John (Dermot Mulroney), in a destitute, rural area of Georgia. After their mother died, John took Chris and his younger brother, Tim (Devon Alan), out of school, so Chris spends his days working on the family farm. Out of the blue, John's brother, Deel (Josh Lucas), is released from prison and shows up looking for some rare gold coins their father used to have. Of course, this leads to horrible trouble for everyone in the family.

What is Deel planning to do? Can the kids stop him?

Written by director David Gordon Green and co-writer Joe Conway, Undertow has some great moments and good acting performances, but it takes a while to get to the action and story. It's a very slow moving movie, which helps to set the eerie tone, but Green and Conway don't give us enough dialogue and background to keep us fully interested. We are left waiting for things to happen, and there is too much time in between those incidents. Luckily, the cast is adept at making the most of what they have.

Bell does a good job as the brooding teen who questions his role in the family, but his performance suffers from a lack of stuff to do. When given the chance, he is very moving. Meanwhile, Lucas proves to me, again, why I think he is one of the most promising young actors today. Whether he is playing a love interest (Sweet Home Alabama), a caring father and son (Around the Bend) or the smooth talking bad guy (Undertow and ER), Lucas is captivating. He is able to show us Deel's evil side hiding under a veneer of helpfulness and caring, which makes him scary even before we can figure out his plan.

Undertow isn't a complete waste of money, but you will find better choices out there.

2 Waffles (Out Of 4)

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