A family are dealing with their broken down car, when a pair of ne'er-do-wells approach. Things get tense when the grandmother identifies one of the two as The Misfit – a criminal well known and currently being hunted; however she also appeals to his better nature to change his ways and to make this interaction the fork in his road.
I wasn't sure of this film at first, mainly because the low production standards and lack of polish is very evident at the start and, as much as we all say that content is what matters, really it is hard to fully get into content that is not delivered well. Unfortunately this lack of polish and professionalism does continue throughout the film and in almost every aspect of the film. This does limit it for sure, and I doubt too many viewers will stick with it on the basis of this, which is a shame because there are aspects to like in his short. Although the dialogue is not what it could have been, there is a certain pleasure in the writing, particularly for the Misfit, who may well sound like a first draft fan-fiction for the show Justified, but there is still music to that. Likewise, although the film has a very melodramatic tone through, and at times sounds like it might become an overly earnest redemption and Jesus piece, it does have a very dark heart.
I think there was not the resources and polish available to bring this out in a fully satisfying way, and the melodrama does persist and causes some aspects not to have the impact they should have done (the callousness of the acts and the people is not allowed to seep through the façade). The performances are equally limited, partly by the writing and direction though. All told it is not a great film, and writer/director Green surely will look at it and see things he can do better next time but, for all its weakness, there are a couple of aspects in the writing and delivery that are better than the overall package may suggest.
