Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Small Town Crime Blu-ray Movie Review

Mood's Ring.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 20, 2018

One of the most time honored (some curmudgeons might say time worn) tropes in films involving cops is police guys (or gals, in fact) who for one reason or the other have either lost their badge or been put on suspension, but who continue to investigate this or that case nonetheless. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, I reviewed Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, one of the higher profile releases of last year, and one which does indeed feature a subplot involving a (disgraced) cop who keeps poking around trying to solve a case even after he’s been fired. But Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is far from the only film I’ve personally reviewed to offer at least a subplot featuring this particular plot conceit, and to that already long list Small Town Crime needs to be added. It’s perhaps even more commendable, then, that this showcase for John Hawkes manages to avoid at least some of the clichés which may be virtually unavoidable when structuring a story with this element. Hawkes portrays Mike Kendall, a former cop whose alcoholism has proven his downfall (though some may question the logic of at least part of the actual “firable” offense utilized in the film, since it seems kind of odd). Mike spends his day knocking back brews and working out (an odd combo platter, to be sure), while also hoping that some miracle will allow him to regain his former employment status. He does go out looking for work, but he repeatedly undercuts his chances of getting hired by sharing (no doubt intentionally) his battles with alcohol. After a pretty serious bender with his best buddy and brother-in-law Teddy Banks (Anthony Anderson), Mike wakes up in a field full of garbage and stumbles back to his car. Almost instantly, though, he discovers another body out in the field, and perhaps incredibly it’s in even worse shape than Mike himself. He scoops up a badly beaten woman and drives her to an emergency room, where a day or so later, she expires.

The one (to me, anyway) glaring lapse of logic in Small Town Crime comes after the woman Mike finds passes away, and Mike decides to investigate her death, against the express directive given to him by the real investigative cop on the case, Detective Crawford (Michael Vartan). Since by definition this story takes place in a “small town”, one where “everyone knows your name” (so to speak), it would seem to be logical to assume that Mike’s notoriety regarding what led to his dismissal from the force would have made him a bit of a cause célèbre in the region. Instead, Small Town Crime simply proffers Mike’s “revisioning” of himself as a private investigator named Jack Winter as a “given”, as if no one in the area would know who he really is.

“Jack” has possession of the dead girl’s cell phone, and he begins to reach out to various family members to try to figure out what might have gone wrong in the victim’s life. Some of these interchanges are actually played at least a little for laughs, as this nascent private investigator learns that the victim had a somewhat “colorful” past, leaving a very well to do family to begin working as a prostitute. “Jack” manages to inveigle himself to the victim’s well to do grandfather, Steve Yendel (Robert Forster), who offers “Jack” considerably more money than he’s been making on unemployment. Soon enough, “Jack” manages to uncover a link to a bartender whose pimping activities had already put him on the radar of the police, and through that connection, “Jack” ultimately is led to one of the main culprits, Mood (Clifton Collins, Jr.), whose call girl ring ends up having more than one victim.

There are a number of interesting sidebars that accrue during Small Town Crime, including the kind of fascinating relationship “Jack” — er, Mike — has with his adoptive sister, Kelly (Octavia Spencer). There are also a number of “supporting scuzzes” (if I may coin a type) that give this film a really gritty, almost quasi-Tarantino-esque, feel. But the film never really develops any considerable narrative momentum, instead deriving its actually pretty substantial pleasures from the character work. It’s especially fun to see Hawkes and Forster interact, and once the two become a vigilante team of sorts, while any sense of “reality” is probably completely jettisoned, there’s a fine sense of camaraderie and shared purpose. The fact that it’s all taking place in an insanely violent shootout climax may only be an “added benefit” for some viewers, but it’s the relationships that make this film work as consistently as it does.

Small Town Crime Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Small Town Crime is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb lists the Sony CineAlta F55 as having digitally captured the imagery, and my birth state of Utah looks rather scenic throughout the film, with some really gorgeous shots of the ever present Wasatch Range often providing a backdrop to some "less than gorgeous" characters. Aside from a few isolated scenes, including some relatively brief flashbacks, which have been graded toward kind of sickly looking yellows, the palette looks nicely fresh and natural. While there are some relatively dimly lit interior shots, detail levels rarely if ever falter, and the more brightly lit outdoor moments (which are plentiful) offer typically excellent fine detail levels. The BD-50 provides ample real estate for the film and the not overly numerous supplements (several of which are audio in the term of commentaries), and as such there are no compression challenges encountered.

Small Town Crime Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Small Town Crime features an intermittently boisterous sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, one that derives considerable energy and surround impact from elements like Mike screeching around town in his muscle car, something that offers both good panning activity and even some surprising LFE when he guns the engine. The climax of this film is almost cartoonish as an insane amount of gunfire breaks out, and that sequence also offers a glut of well placed channelization, along with bursts of sonic energy as various guns are shot. Some isolated club and/or bar scenes also have a nice splay of elements in terms of crowd sounds or background ambient environmental effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout the presentation.

Small Town Crime Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Directors' Commentary


• Actors, Producer and Directors' Commentary


• Technical Commentary


• Crime and Character (1080p; 7:44) is an above average EPK with some decent interviews with cast and crew.


• Devising a Small Town Crime (1080p; 7:00) is another brief piece documenting the creative process.


• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 3:29)


• Extended Scenes (1080p; 7:09)

Small Town Crime Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Small Town Crime provides a real showcase for Hawkes, and his performance helps elevate the film above some its more clichéd aspects. A colorful supporting cast rounds out a story you've probably seen before in one way or the other, but never quite like this. Perhaps the film has a few too many colorful supporting characters, though, meaning that some expert performers like Octavia Spencer and Anthony Anderson, playing more relatively "normal" types, have limited opportunities to really strut their stuff. Technical merits are first rate, and Small Town Crime comes Recommended.