LaRoy

Laroy, Texas is a Fargo-esque movie by writer/director Shane Atkinson. He has for sure watched and enjoyed movies by the Coen Brothers. He doesn't have the same talent but he has for sure been influenced by the Coen Brothers and he's certainly good enough to make an entertaining movie in Fargo style. Good dialogues between the two major characters, an interesting story with the necessary twists and turns to keep it interesting, and a good doses of black humour. The entire cast were believable in their roles, enjoyable characters in a wild story that makes this genre of movies just highly entertaining.

I watched this on a plane solely due to Steve Zahn and well, there are so few good movies now, especially ones without some strange agenda. This fit the bill, but it is hit and miss. The lack of agenda is worth 2 stars all on its own.

As almost every review tells you, this goes far to basically ripoff the Coen Bros' Fargo. We have to give the creators credit for reaching for the sky in their borrowing. Fargo fumes + Zahn + Dylan Baker as a hit man are the saving graces.

Otherwise, the other main character, Ray, is a one-note completely moronic loser who seems to learn nothing from everything he goes through. Yes. He goes through a lot, but he was flatlined braindead.

It's pretty clear from the outset that first-time feature director Shawn Atkinson is a big fan of the Coen brothers because there isn't a scene in this evocative albeit overlong 2024 character-driven thriller that didn't remind me of genuine classics like "Fargo", "Blood Simple", or "No Country for Old Men". The convoluted plot centers on put-upon Ray, a sad sack who owns the town's family hardware store with his slick brother Junior. Married to an unfaithful former beauty queen Stacy-Linn, Ray decides to end it all but gets caught up as an inadvertent hit man on the track of missing cash with his hapless private eye buddy Skip. Much like William H. Macy's Jerry Lundegaard in "Fargo", Ray is such a pitiful character that John Magaro can only do so much to flesh out his role and elicit empathy for his character. On the other hand, Steve Zahn brings welcome over-the-top comic gusto to Skip, while Dylan Baker plays effectively against type as Harry, the true hit man. Matthew Del Negro and Megan Stevenson play Junior and Stacy-Linn pretty much by the numbers. As with the Coens' films, there are comic scenes punctuated by shots of extreme violence. Really for fans of this particular genre.

I am going to look forward for further up coming flicks either written or directed by Shane Atkinson.... This picture flew seamless. When I watch a movie - I often take breaks.... the breaks let me sink in fully and completely the past 20 or so minutes. For example "All The Presidents' Men" and intelligent pictures like those.

With Laroy, Texas I took breaks within each 30 minutes or so...... to let it sink in :) the characters were so natural - acting was splendid. The cinematography gave the feel of real place where it was shot. Until now.. this year - one of the best that I have seen. Give it a shot - it is worth its money.

The film surprised me I just randomly picked this film to watch and to fill in some spare time, I found the characters interesting and played well the plot kept your attention over all I liked the film its a good film I would definitely recommend watching it.

The plot lines were a bit convoluted the actors gave there characters depth the writers did well gave the characters good lines which one of the actors I would choose who was the best tough to say they were all good.

Yes I gave it an eight it deserves it actors where good direction was good and how it looked was very good all up i think it deserves an eight.