The Lesser Evil

I immediatly found myself engrossed into The Lesser Evil, it's strong cast and fascinating plot gripped me and I expected something really quite special.

Alas it wasn't to be, but the film certainly does have it's merits regardless.

It has a real Stephen King feel to it, telling the story of 4 friends who meet up for the first time in 20yrs and are forced to face their sins. Set across both present and flashbacks I'm almost surprised it's not Kings work.

Starring several industry veterans including Colm "Storm of the Century" Feore and David Paymer along with current popular comedy star Adam Scott the performances were never going to be in question.

The plot starts off strong but starts to struggle, by the end it's devoid of originality and the fascination had long since waned.

This is one of those films that genuinely saddened me as I hoped for something really quite good here. It's still interesting and the cast are fantastic, but it feels like potential not only squandered but thoroughly butchered.

The Good:

Some competent writing

The Bad:

Some of the young to old casting is awful

Loses steam

Naff finale which doesn't really make much sense

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Religion isn't part of reality, wait no I already knew that

I gave this movie an 8 and after voting instantly wished I'd given it a 9. The cast, those playing the 4 main characters in the present and in the past, did an excellent job. The best acting performances were turned in by David Paymer and Adam Scott as "adult George" and "young George" respectively. I checked my skin a couple of times to make sure the slime hadn't slithered off of him and made it's way through the ether to my living room. But I think the real talent here was that of Jeremy Levine who write the script. I visited IMDB specifically to see if the story had been taken from a short story but evidently it wasn't. It was just plain good writing and even the heavy use of flashback, rather than slowing down the suspense, actually enhanced it. It was the classic writer's technique of starting with a simple situation and piling on complication after complication until the suspense is unbearable. He did it extremely well and it worked.

"Lesser Evil" is a 1998 film starring Colm Feore, David Paymer, Tony Goldwyn and Arliss Howard. It's very well directed by David Mackay, and the script by Jeremy Levine and Steven Schultze is excellent. The film starts at a funeral presided over by a priest (Howard) who then tells the story in flashback. As teenagers, four buddies - Ivan (the priest, played as a young man by Marc Worden), George (Alan Scott/Paymer), Derek (Jonathan Scarfe/Feore) and Frank (Steven Petrarca/Goldwyn) are being crazed, drunken, out of control lunatics in the woods when George (Adam Scott/Paymer grown up) shoots into a car, gravely injuring the driver. The driver has a shotgun on his lap. He also has something else, which is revealed later in the film. The kids become completely hysterical and, as the man isn't dead but seems close to it, they attempt to rush him to a hospital. Then they change their minds and take him back to the woods, where he dies hours later, helped along by one of them when they see police lights.

Twenty years later, the gun that killed the man has surfaced, and the police question its owner, Derek (Feore), who has called them all together. George has become an attorney, Frank a police officer, Ivan a priest, and Derek's business is failing. He has made a mess of talking to the police and is a wreck. Ivan thinks they should go to the police and tell them what happened all those years ago, though they had all made a pact to protect George and keep quiet. Then they realize that George has been getting everything on tape and that Frank has been keeping a big secret from them all these years.

Fascinating story of the ramifications of guilt even after "getting away" with something and how guilt molded the lives and personalities of each man and changed their relationships with one another. In that way, it's a tiny bit like "Mystic River." With Colm Feore in it, the acting can be nothing less than spectacular. He is one of my favorite actors, having seen in perform at Stratford in Canada several times. The leads are all excellent, and the young men who play them as teens are superb.

There's a twist at the end. You won't want to miss this superlative drama that could only come from an independent filmmaker, as Hollywood is too busy with cartoon characters and blowing up things.

A clever use of combining past and present to explain what is happening on screen is used throughout THE LESSER EVIL by director Jack Mackay. The story basically involves men who made a bad mistake in the past and have had their crime affecting their lives ever since. A reunion proposed by one of the men turns into something more than a mere gathering of old friends--and leads to another crime.

This is an independent film without wide distribution and it's little known among fans of the suspense genre. It's worth watching for the more than competent performances from a splendid cast, particularly the adult actors COLM FEORE, TONY GOLDWYN, ARLISS HOWARD and David PAYMER.

It's more a character study of the four friends than a straight thriller, but as the story unwinds--after a beginning narrated by ARLISS HOWARD as a priest giving a graveside sermon on a dead friend--it keeps switching back and forth between past and present to explain what is happening, each aspect of the story made clearer by revealing the past crime concurrently with the present action.

It's an effective way of telling a complex story of guilt and fear brought on by the killing of an individual and the extremes the four went to in an effort to cover up the crime.

The twist at the end comes as a surprise because nothing about the story is predictable. It's a well done independent film and one well worth seeing.

This is an excellent film, and was a very pleasant suprise, to say the least. I'm amazed, however, at the lack of online information for "The Lesser Evil". It's a shame it hasn't gotten much attention, because this is a very well done, totally gripping film, with a twist ending I never saw coming. If you like your movies suspenseful, thought-provoking, and unpredictable, check this one out...you won't be disappointed.