This neato Canadian thriller's Columbo-esque conceit is that the audience knows whodunit all along, and the fun is in watching the jig unravel for the bad guy.
And it really is quite fun, even though there's no Columbo-type detective in the show. Instead, at the center is dirty cop Patrick Kelly, who uses acting skills honed as an undercover operative to hide his true self from just about everybody who knows him. His true self being, of course, a murderer.
The story is told in a series of flashbacks and flash-forwards that may be a bit confusing for the inattentive, but the style works. Watching Kelly screw with people in the past, then hearing those same people testify about having been screwed with, is entertaining in a reality show sort of way.
As Patrick Kelly, Paul Gross manages to convey an unsettling creepiness that's an about-face from his more comedic role in the mid-'90s series "Due South." His performance is captivating, and that's important, because he's in practically every scene. He's taking us for a ride in much the same way his character does everyone else in the movie.
A few petty things detract a little bit from the fun. Occasionally, the Canadian TV origin of the picture is obvious in its framing and contrast. And the director has apparently never met a Mexican person, because Kelly's blue-eyed Mexican wife and redhead mother-in-law seem to have stepped right out of Toronto Central Casting and been told to speak like Penelope Cruz.
Overall, it's a worthy addition to your Netflix cue, and a value when purchased as part of that nifty "Murder at Midnight" eight-movie set for five bucks.
