Randy and the Mob

There seem to be a raft of low-budget comedies with mob plots or parodies. This isn't one of those. This is a strikingly original, character-driven gem that does an amazing job balancing all its elements into a pitch perfect comic tone that infects the audience and had everyone laughing throughout. (I caught it at the Austin Film Festival.) Walton Goggins creates an unforgettable and unique comic character in Tino, the mob fixer. Hats off to him and writer-director Ray McKinnon for making risky choices and sticking with them. For example, McKinnon plays twin brothers, one gay, one a good ol' boy, and makes them totally separate and truthful and hilarious. Lisa Blount is also fabulous as Randy's clinically-depressed wife. Burt Reynolds also makes a great cameo appearance.

(My Synopsis) Randy Pearson (Ray McKinnon) is a wheeler-dealer good ole Southern boy running several businesses at the same time in a small Georgia town. Times are hard and Randy must turn to a loan shark to keep his businesses from going under. Unfortunately for Randy, all his businesses are still making very little money. Franco (Paul Ben-Victor), a loan shark for the mob, wants to collect the mob's money, but Randy can't deliver, and Randy is now in deep trouble. However, the mob has a plan to use Randy's business to move some of their goods. Franco sends the mob enforcer, Tino (Walton Goggins), to run the operations. Tino begins to make all the businesses very profitable. There is only one problem; Franco must drive down to the small Georgia town to collect the mob's money.

(My Comment) This is a limited release movie and for that reason, it will have a small viewing. However, if you are one of the lucky ones to see it, be sure to tell your friends. It is uniquely Southern. It looked like all the actors had a good ole time making the movie! Randy's wife (Lisa Blount) was a hoot with her being depressed and having carpal tunnel from teaching baton twirling. The part I liked best was that of Tino. Tino was a real odd ball who could cook an excellent Italian meal without ever cooking it before. He learned all the recipes in prison and put them to memory. Tino also shows off his expert clogging skills, and masterful sayings about his philosophy of life. Ray McKinnon also plays his identical twin gay brother with some amusing scenes. This was a low budget movie that only cost $2 million, but they got their money's worth, so take a chance and check it out. (Capricorn Pictures, Run time 1:39, Rated PG)(7/10)

Randy and the Mob is a well crafted, well acted, feel good film which suffers a little from pacing and plotting.

The acting is excellent, and the portrayal of small town life (where everyone knows everything you've ever done) is dead on.

Ray McKinnon's performance as Randy is great, he's a guy who wants to be a big time business man but doesn't have the business or people skills to pull it off. McKinnon also plays Randy's twin brother, Cecil, the openly gay owner of an antiques store. McKinnon's performance as Cecil is subtle and realistic yet so completely different from Randy that at first I wasn't entirely sure he was the same actor.

The initial setup of the story is slow and feels a bit forced. It's essentially there to introduce the character of Tino, a mob affiliate who is so other worldly it seems he might at any moment reveal himself to be a space alien.

At this point Randy and the Mob becomes a mysterious stranger sort of film where some outsider drops in and helps everyone discover themselves. But it does it well and with humor and with genuine heart even if some of the plot feels sort of forced together at points.

Randy and the Mob is a good choice if you're looking for something that's amusing and light hearted. Though it seems that with a little tweaking the film could have been much better it's definitely a good example of what the quirky-small-town-life type film should be like.