“A Bag of Hammers” is better than nothing [MOVIE REVIEW]
Jason Ritter and Jake Sandvig in "A Bag of Hammers."
“A Bag of Hammers” is the assured debut of first timer Brian Crano who co-wrote the screenplay with Jake Sandvig. A wonderful Indie that tells the tale of two charming crooks, Alan and Ben, who, when responsibility is thrust upon them rise to the occasion. Rarely overly sentimental and definitely humorous, this is a skewed journey into adulthood that is worth taking.
Alan and Ben have fashioned a comfortable life for themselves in the parking business as valets. But things are rarely as they seem. Alan, Ben and their “Valet Parking” sign move with the times and at a rapid pace because this is a mobile business is at least one sense of the world. Clean cut, charming and forgettable, the boys set up their sign at funeral services and move cars from their owners to a chop shop. Alan and Ben are two of the most seemingly guileless car thieves you will meet and their skill at this trade has earned them a two bungalow lifestyle, one to live in and one to rent, in a semi-marginal Los Angeles neighborhood.
Into their lives one day enters Kelsey, a 12 year old living with his unemployed and emotionally unstable mom Lynette in the rental. It will be Kelsey who drives Alan and Ben into the adult world of responsibility and the straight and narrow; well not so straight, but definitely narrow.
A small film, but lush with character, Jason Ritter (Ben) and Jake Sandvig (Alan) engulf you with their charm and almost innocent demeanor, as though they are unaware that what they are doing is wrong. The easy back and forth banter between the two speaks volumes about a friendship that has clearly lasted a lifetime, as short as that may be. For each it was a childhood of want and neglect that is the self-rationalizing reason for their criminality. For Alan’s sister Melanie (Rebecca Hall) this lawless activity is a sign of their continued immaturity. She endured the same abuse as Ben and Alan but chooses to continue to chop her way out of the abyss as a waitress in a specialty cafe one waffle wiggle at a time. Judgmental and rather priggish, she is the one who alerts the child welfare authorities to Kelsey’s plight and in so doing triggers the maturational process in Ben and Alan. But her actions go deeper than her outwardly judgmental behavior because she realizes that parenthood is based on stability, love and reliability.
Chandler Cantebury as Kelsey strikes all the right notes of a lost child who understands the dilemma his mother faces as a woman dangerously close to a psychotic break brought on by her desperation but who needs the outward signs of love and protection that should be his right. Carrie Preston as Lynette with her darting sunken eyes and body that seems to grow thinner and more slumped before our eyes is hopelessness personified; although her descent from sympathy to scorn was a bit too rapid and without enough justification. Preston, all nervous energy, is an actress capable of expressing simultaneously contradictory emotions and, as such, gives the necessary depth and gravity against which the froth of the boys and their oblivious immaturity is anchored. Crano was decidedly lucky to attract an actress of Preston’s level to his film. Gabriel Macht as a caring teacher is quite good in a small role. It was a pleasure to see Macht as a conflicted, sympathetic character so unlike the corporate shark he plays to perfection of the USA series “Suits.”
Certainly there are holes in the plot and in the characters as well but, all-in-all, as this film zips by you’ll find yourself smilingly willing to go along for the ride.
Opening May 18 at the Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills.
Neely also writes a blog about writers in television and film at http://www.nomeanerplace.com