A Crooked Somebody

Greetings again from the darkness. The lust for fame is really just a plea for acceptance. In director Trevor White's film, the lead character, Michael Vaughn, wreaks of desperation for acceptance ... from the public, from his associate, and mostly from his Pastor-Dad. Unfortunately, the path Vaughn chooses is simply the first of many bad decisions. In fact, the film is really a chronicle of the downward spiral of Michael Vaughn's bad decisions.

Rich Sommer (Harry Crane in "Mad Men") plays Michael Vaughn, a psychic who tours the country peddling his book and his "act". And yes, it's an act. It's such an act, that it could be considered a scam. However, Michael focuses on connecting the living with their beloved dead ones, so his (sparse) audience is filled with those who want to believe he is legitimate. His assistant-associate-accomplice-would be and one time lover is played by Joanne Froggatt. Her job is to prevent Michael from becoming despondent over the lack of book sales, and also to be his audience-plant when a session gets stalled.

The bulk of the story revolves around Nathan (Clifton Collins, Jr), a man who believes Vaughn has connected to a man Nathan killed. In trying to clear his conscience, Nathan wants Vaughn to use his talents to help Stacy (Amanda Crew), the now-grown daughter of the man Nathan killed. Instead of focusing on "helping" those involved, Vaughn seizes the opportunity to put himself in the spotlight ... gaining notoriety as the psychic who helped solve a long-ago murder case. And no, this isn't the final bad decision Vaughn makes. He manages to make things much worse.

Real life married couple Ed Harris and Amy Madigan play Vaughn's parents - the one's he so wants to win respect from. The script from writer Andrew Zilch offers some pretty decent on screen tension, though it strains a bit too much in places - even with a worthy and relatable central idea. It's human nature to desire acceptance (especially from loved ones) ... though it takes a flawed personality to strive for fame and celebrity (especially at the cost of core values). Here's hoping you don't see too much of yourself in Michael Vaughn.

This was another one of those films that showed up on Sky Movies Premiere and I recorded it expecting to delete it after about 20 minutes, which is what usually happens if it's a film I've not heard of before. But A Crooked Somebody was one of the 5% that I managed to watch all the way through.

What this film has going for it is its unpredictability. It frequently surprised me, often not going the way I expected, taking a left turn instead of a right. It's rare to find a film like that these days because everything seems to be dumbed down for people who can't handle anything that doesn't stick to a formula.

The lead actor was someone I hadn't seen before and at first I was a little put off, thinking he wouldn't be able to carry the film, but he does. In fact he really grew on me as the film went on. All of the performances in this film are good, and there's even an appearance from Daniel Larusso's mom and the girl from Sex Drive (who I've never seen in anything else, but she's good in this too).

The plot in a nutshell sees a dodgy psychic, Michael Vaughn get caught up in an absurd Ben Stiller style comedy, although there's no slapstick humour here, it's a dark thriller, but Vaughn repeatedly makes bad decisions and tells lies that lead to more lies. His female sidekick acts as his conscience, which helps to make it believable when he discusses his plans with her, listens to her advice and then usually ignores it, leaving you shaking your head. The whole thing escalates quite magniificently without ever taking a mis-step that leaves you rolling your eyes. The script is solid and I found myself really rooting for Vaughn even though he's a weasel.

The only negatives I can come up with are that on a couple of occasions the film dragged for a few minutes, but fortunately it always recovered. And although I couldn't predict how it was going to end, I found the ending a little disappointing. It tied everything up perfectly, but because of how the film had gone up to that point I was hoping for something a little more original. But those minor gripes aside, this film is a breath of fresh air and worth your time, in my opinion.

Loved that line.

This film is about Michael Vaughan, a self-proclaimed psychic, who is searching for fame and fortune. He, in reality, has no ability but he has picked up a few tricks that help bolster his ruse with the desperate people who are hoping to reach their loved ones through the abilities he claims to have. He finds himself in a sticky situation when he is kidnapped by a man who struggles with guilt stemming from a girl being left an orphan after he killed her father. When Michael learns the identity of the girl, he realizes that case had been one that garnered nationwide coverage many years ago. He thinks he can use this situation to help himself reach fame and fortune and begins manipulating the situation. However, his father has tried to warn him that it is better to be a straight nobody than a crooked somebody.

I liked this film. It was decent as far a lower budgeted films go. The story was interesting and the actors did a good job with their characters. It would've probably been much better had there been more depth to the story. I'm glad I came across it.

Really enjoyed this film. Kept my attention. Was not expecting this film to be any good. Turned out to be great. Check it out!

About halfway through it started to grip, and it never let go. Anchored by excellent performances, this little gem delivered. Good soundtrack, good direction and a very good story.