Don McKay (2009)

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Like many movies I see from Netflix, I never heard of this one until browsing for my queue. I have seen little of Thomas Haden Church since "Sideways", and Elizabeth Shue has been in many major and minor films, and I like thrillers usually, so I took a chance. The first third of the movie built slowly, and had a feeling of mystery and suspense and strange things going on. When Church first returns to his home town and sees Sunny, who is supposed to be dying of cancer, I immediately chuckled at how healthy she looked, figuring the director preferred to have an attractive lead over reality.As the film progressed, some scary moments occurred, as well as some darkly humorous ones, and for a while, I felt I was watching a terrific film. But like many movies in this genre, the promise of a logical explanation is sacrificed for either a convoluted complicated ending or a simple nonsensical one. This had more of the former than the latter, but it all happened so close to the end that it seemed more like a comedy than a thriller. Maybe that's what the director wanted, but it made the movie seem cheap and contrived. It reminded me of a better film "The Faculty", where one ending after another was piled on at the end in a "can you top this" fashion.Still, the movie held my attention, and I didn't fast forward, and though I felt a bit let down at the end, I still enjoyed it enough to give it a 7. I tend to be easy on grading movies, saving grades of 4 or less for boring films like "The English Patient" which was like watching grass grow, only slower. I had a smile on my face through much of Don McKay, along with a feeling of suspense. Worth a look.

"Don McKay" is marketed as an edgy thriller, that's probably because they had no idea how to categorize it.The movie begins as a cross between a romantic drama, a character study, and a dark thriller. Don McKay, played brilliantly by Thomas Haden Church, returns to his hometown by a letter from his high school girlfriend, Sunny (Elisabeth Shue). That's the romantic drama aspect. But we quickly learn that there's something not quite right about Sunny, there's something not quite right with most people in the town, and McKay has dark secrets to his past. We are always on the lookout for creepy turns and shadows around every corner. Those are the dark thriller aspects.It seems as if it's going to be a character study, but its really not about McKay himself. It's ultimately plot-driven and the mysterious problems that McKay gets himself into. I was riveted throughout.I actually highly recommend "Don McKay" because it's cleverly written to throw its audience off-guard, it's completely original, and these film-makers know what they are doing. And no matter what genre you decide it is by the end, it won't be what you thought it was at the beginning.

I love Elizabeth Shue but what happened in this movie???? The acting was ordinary and whilst I understand it is a comedy or black comedy as some have suggested, it never really hits the spot. She seems very wooden in the movie and I was disappointed in her performance. I expected so much more. The plot is weak and never really gets there in my opinion. I had a few little laughs here and there although nothing side splitting. The woman who plays Shue's "housekeeper" or whatever she is supposed to be looks very familiar, however her name is not familiar to me. The old guy who plays the taxi driver is a great "character" actor and he is probably the best of the lineup.

What if you made a low/no budget movie about a con and by the end of the movie it came across as more confusing than smart? What if everything leading up to the final scenes were more boring than interesting? What if everyone acting in this film just mumbled through their cringe worthy lines? Well you'd have the movie Don McKay.This movie is so stilted it only starts to get interesting in maybe the last 20 minutes before the credits roll, anything before that is just, sadly, nothing about nothing. Within the first 10 minutes of the movie you, the viewer, know something is amiss but the movie gives no clues and drags out this expectation of answers until the very end. The rest of the movie is padded with allusions of something happening 25 years prior and by the time it's all tied up in the end, it's ridiculous that it's all been withheld for the entire running time.Honestly this would have been perfect fodder for a hour long TV episode of the crime/suspense type, and probably gotten a much better treatment on the small screen. The best con of this movie is the fact it separated you from your hard earned money just to waste an hour and half of your life, both of which you'll never get back.