When filmmakers seek to stretch their creative juices by working on projects that aren’t typical of their normal output, they need to get their ducks in a row first if they hope to succeed in these new ventures. In tackling such productions, some have brilliantly broadened their ranges, while others have regrettably failed miserably. Rarely, however, do they fall somewhere in the middle, but such is the case with director Darren Aronofsky’s latest, a comedy/crime thriller that gets some things right and others not so much. Set in 1998, the picture follows the story of a once-promising baseball prospect, Hank Thompson (Austin Butler), whose chances of going pro were ruined by a severe knee injury, forcing him to settle for a routine job as a New York City bartender. It may not be everything he hoped for, but it pays the bills and provides him with a steady supply of his other passion, alcohol. However, his relatively mundane life takes a bizarre left turn one night when his shady, punked-out neighbor, Russ (Matt Smith), asks him to babysit his cat when a family emergency calls him home to London. It’s a favor that unwittingly draws Hank into the underbelly of his neighbor’s sordid, crime-ridden life. And, before he knows it, Hank is unexpectedly caught up in a web of theft, murder, mayhem and crooked cops, leaving him surrounded by an array of corpses and impending threats, with all implications pointing toward him as the perpetrator. He’s thus forced to take desperate measures to stay alive and ahead of the law, all the while struggling to protect his feline companion. The premise here is an intriguing one that gets progressively better as the film unfolds. However, it’s somewhat slow to start and features a profoundly dark narrative in the opening act, leaving one to wonder where the alleged comedy of this offering lurks. As the picture progresses, though, the promised (and often-inspired) humor gradually emerges, providing the much-needed comic relief called for to offset the story’s more sinister and decidedly edgier aspects. This welcome development genuinely helps to save the film from itself, a change in tone that’s significantly enhanced by a coterie of colorful supporting characters superbly portrayed by an excellent ensemble featuring the likes of Regina King, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D’Onofrio, Griffin Dunne, Carol Kane, George Abud, and, of course, Tonic the cat. The film also offers up a fine re-creation of life in 1990s New York down to the finest of details. When these elements are considered collectively, it’s easy to see how the director’s efforts at expanding his vision hit the mark on some points and not on others. In that regard, this offering shows the filmmaker’s promise for tackling projects beyond his typical fare, but a few more ducks need to fall into line before he can truly claim success when embarking on ventures into new territory.
