It starts with Andy (Rainn Wilson) breaking into the basement of his own home for a change of clothes, but he's caught by his daughter (Isabel Dove), and while he persuades her to stay mum, his brother Zeke (Benjamin Walker), the local sheriff, upstairs in the kitchen finds out anyhow, but before he can get his hands on Andy, Andy has made good an escape: The story is this, Andy, a lawyer fallen from grace, and his friends Ed (Wyatt Russell) and Chris (Mark Rendall) had made a raid on the local bank a few days earlier, and now they're wanted men, in a small town where everybody knows everyone. Apparently, the heist has gone rather wrong though, and ultimately left a few corpses in its trail, including Chris, Ed, and even the owner of the bank, Judge Dawkins (John Michael Higgins), who got shot. Fact is, the whole affair got so bloody the FBI sent two men (Rob Corddry, Ron Livingston), if not exactly their best.

So that's the premise, and from here on the story's told backwards, and what seemed straightforward at first soon gets more and more layers, as the heist was only the tip of a conspiracy that had Judge Dawkins and Ed's wife Steph (Stephanie Sigman) involved. And Sheriff Zeke might have also gotten his hands dirtier than fits his job ...

Shimmer Lake is ... interesting: It's narrative structure that tells the narrative backwards is more than just a gimmick as it really changes the way one looks at things that happened earlier in the film and seems to change direction of the story altogether. And a light-footed approach to things that often transgresses into comedy makes sure that the whole thing doesn't become a brain-heavy experiment. That said though, Shimmer Lake is far from perfect: In fact it falls short of making its story really engaging, as its characters aren't strong enough, it's comedy not quirky and/or edgy enough to shine, and its direction feels slightly stale. But all that said, it's still an ok watch, just doesn't live up to its promise.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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