John Slattery’s “God’s Pocket” introduces various characters
and plot strands but doesn’t seem to know what to do with them. It boasts an
impressive cast, with the likes of Phillip Seymour Hoffman (in one of his last
roles), John Turturro, Christina Hendricks and Richard Jenkins. While cinematographer
Lance Accord gives the picture a naturalistic, at times noir-ish look. However
the screenplay—by Slattery and Alex Metcalf, based on the book by Peter Dexter--doesn’t
do an adequate job of developing the characters and overall, the story is
half-baked and bland, resulting in the movie being underwhelming and pointless.
The film is set in the Philadelphia neighborhood God’s
Pocket. It’s one of those dead-end blue-collar neighborhoods full of simple
folk that are born and raised there and never leave. They work some manual
labor job and then go to the local dank and dim bar and, in the words of one of
the characters, “talk about things they don’t understand.” If the movie is
about anything you can be sure of it’s that the world is a harsh unforgiving
place. God’s Pocket is the kind of neighborhood where people will cover up a
murder that’s blatantly taken place on a job site, or where the funeral home
director will leave a cadaver outside in the pouring rain because he didn’t get
his fee.
Oddly enough, both those things happen to Mickey (Hoffman)
one way or the other. When we first meet him he’s in a lifeless marriage with a
woman named Jeanie (Hendricks) and his involvement in illegal activities
(gambling, stealing a meat truck, etc.) with his friend Arthur (John Turturro)
seems to be his full time job. The trouble begins when Jeanie’s son Leon (Caleb
Landry Jones) is killed at a construction site. The workers cover it and Mickey
makes funeral arrangements. However, Jeanie thinks something is up and wants
answers; meanwhile, due to a gambling loss, Mickey has no money to bury his
stepson. Poor Leon only has about five minutes of screen time but in that he’s
shown as being a racist, ignorant, stubborn asshole that gets what he deserves.
The problems with “God’s Pocket” begin right away; why
should we care whether this guy gets buried or not? And why should Mickey go
through as much hassle as he does to do it? He’s his stepson after all and the
two spend zero time together. Now you could say, “but he’s married to Jeanie so
he’s doing it because he loves her.” Well the two of them spend practically no
time together either, there’s no sign of a relationship between them and their
individual characters aren’t fleshed out well enough to make us look past this.
At only ninety minutes, “God’s Pocket” is unbelievably short
and could have easily benefited from being longer to allow for more character
development and more story development. By the end, so little is accomplished.
Jeanie’s decision to look for answers as to what happened to her son is never
really followed through, and since we know what happened to Leon and also know
that he’s a jerk, there’s no reason for the audience to care about any of it
either. A subplot involving Arthur and his run-in with gangsters is barely
developed and resolves abruptly and unsatisfyingly.
There’s also the character of Richard Shellburn (Jenkins) an alcoholic newspaper columnist who
writes about the neighborhood (usually condescendingly) and who is asked to get
to the bottom of Leon’s death. Again, like much of everything else, this isn’t
followed through. And the character doesn’t serve much of a purpose, other than
to be a depressed and sum up the movie’s themes in voice over (disguised in his
newspaper columns). A romantic fling between him and Jeanie pretty much comes
out of nowhere and doesn’t evolve into anything worthwhile either. The movie is
full of flat characters and stories that don’t go anywhere.
The only plot strand that’s actually followed through is
Mickey’s adventure (filled with much bad luck) in trying to come up with the
money to give Leon a funeral. However, the film begins with said funeral so any
chance at tension is immediately eliminated. All the actors give it their best
shot, Hoffman gives a good unassuming performance and Jenkins is entertaining
as a journalist who thinks he’s above everyone else. Though, they’re ultimately
let down by a script desperately in need of a rewrite, or two.
D+
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