Although the main character is adorable, the movie just doesn't work the way it was intended.
I can't help but look at this movie with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I like the final result and I loved the main character and the overall concept of the script. On the other hand, I'm forced to consider that the film works poorly as a black comedy, doesn't have any funny (and I'm a fan of black humor) and would have been more interesting if it had been thought of as a drama, with some romance and mystery mixed in.
The script starts from a good premise: a lovely young woman with old-fashioned tastes who seem totally innocent and above suspicion, but who, unbeknownst to anyone, is dedicated to cleaning the world of evildoers. The idea was good, but what the film does is turn it into something else. Miss Meadows is adorable, but she's not someone bent on fighting crime. She doesn't look for the bad guys, she simply crosses paths with them, and that's not what a vigilante does. Of course, she ends up being wanted by the authorities, as she herself dates the local sheriff, but she remains not an avenger or someone decided on doing justice. She doesn't act, she just reacts.
In addition to this issue, which for me is essential, there are other details that simply work very badly, starting with the extraordinary formality between the two boyfriends who, despite having a relationship, continue to call each other Miss and Sheriff, and never address each other by their first name, in a register as personal as the one that mother and daughter adopt over the phone. Furthermore, the film lacks tension and dramatic impact: various crimes and deaths occur, but there is no real tension at any point. Ultimately, this is where the most surreal and strange of this film lies: in the naturalness and lightness with which everything happens, and in the way that sheriff seems to want to simply ignore the bride's behavior, which is worthy of a deep psychiatric analysis.
Katie Holmes is the star of this movie. She's not an actress I particularly like, but I have to admit that she did a pretty good job here. She managed to endow the character with great charm and charisma, as well as having excellent dialogue and understated jokes, almost British in essence. James Badge Dale gives him very effective support, even though his character was very poorly thought out and written. Despite the actor's work and effort, the sheriff is too dumb to be credible. Jean Smart, Ava Kolker, Callan Mulvey and Graham Beckel do what they're allowed to do, but the movie isn't theirs to shine.
Technically, the film bets a lot on the style and on the construction of an environment that oscillates between the old-fashioned suburban and the surrealist dystopian. Not everything works, but it wasn't all a complete failure either. The success in choosing filming locations and creating scenarios is quite evident, as is the very happy and accurate way in which the entire outfit of the young Miss Meadows was conceived and created. The cinematography works very well in general, with bright colors, a certain lightness that looks good, and that is only cut in the flashback scenes, in more washed-out tones and in a more tense environment. Personally, I would have liked to see darker, denser cinematography in the parts of the film where the central character is more obsessive, sick and manic. The soundtrack also plays its role in a satisfactory way and without major surprises.
