Something to watch tonight: Tuesday 22 October

Maggie Moore(s) (Slattery, 2023)

For New Zealand genre film fans, the annual Terror-Fi festival is a highlight (at least if you live in Wellington and Auckland).

This year’s programme was announced earlier this week (and the screenings kick off on Halloween weekend) so I thought I would go back to my preview of the 2023 edition for RNZ and see what was now available online.

While Terror-Fi is largely a horror and sci-fi genre showcase, there’s also a bit of crime and I really enjoyed Maggie Moore(s):

A film in the comedy-thriller genre rather than horror or science-fiction, Maggie Moore(s) might have come from pulp crime novelists like Elmore Leonard or directors like early Coens or John Dahl. And it’s set in the now familiar arid landscape of Western New Mexico, home of Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul and Dark Winds.

The film reunites Mad Men stars John Slattery and Jon Hamm with Slattery behind the camera for only his second feature. Hamm plays a recently widowed local police chief who has joined a creative writing course to try and heal his loss.

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The relatively sleepy town is rocked by two brutal murders, both of women named Maggie Moore and the only connection between them are their names.

Hamm and his deputy, played in a shrewd piece of casting by Ted Lasso’s Nick Mohammed, find themselves getting involved in some of the town’s many seedy secrets as they search for a culprit. Hamm also finds himself getting involved with a witness (played nicely by Tina Fey).

The best performance in the whole thing is by Micah Stock as one of the widowed Moores, a desperate sandwich shop franchisee who becomes increasingly unhinged as the film goes on.

If you like the super-relaxed version of Jon Hamm – and you should – I recommend you also check out the very funny Fletch reboot, Confess, Fletch which is a digital rental at the moment at AroVision in New Zealand.