Uncle John (2015)

Uncle John: Directed by Steven Piet. With John Ashton, Alex Moffat, Jenna Lyng Adams, Ronnie Gene Blevins. In this tale of small town intrigue, an urbanite returns to his quiet hometown on an impromptu trip as his Uncle, widely respected in town, struggles to evade suspicion of a murder.

“John Ashton is one of those supremely gifted character actors that constantly find themselves in movies not quite worthy of their talents. The litmus test is this: Search through Ashtonu0026#39;s film resume here on IMDb and find movies youu0026#39;ve seen that heu0026#39;s starred in. His wide-eyed, wizened face has been endearing you longer than you may realize (his most famous turn has got to be as Judge Reinholdu0026#39;s gruffly sardonic mentor in u0026quot;Beverly Hills Copu0026quot;). His comedic delivery is often so dry it crackles.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis makes him the perfect find for the title role in director Steven Pietu0026#39;s surprisingly engaging, often very funny thriller u0026quot;Uncle John.u0026quot; The film begins with John hauling away and burning a body in one of his fields on his rural Illinois farm. The victim turns out to be a guy named Dutch who (from the vitriol spouted by almost everyone in the small town) people despised — and even more so when he found religion and embarked on the not-too-smart idea of going from door to door and u0026quot;apologizingu0026quot; for his past sins.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003ePiet and co-writer Erik Craryu0026#39;s script is rather bold in its execution however, because it doesnu0026#39;t just stick with John and his quietly engrossing story. The writers ping-pong constantly to another plot revolving around Johnu0026#39;s nephew (Alex Moffat) and a co-worker heu0026#39;s tentatively courting (Jenna Lyng) at a small commercial ad agency in Chicago. For a good part of the film, youu0026#39;ll wonder what the hell this plot has to do with the A-story, but after a while you wonu0026#39;t care: Moffat and Lyng have such an electric chemistry and their dialogue is so real, so drop-dead funny at times, that itu0026#39;s just a joy to watch (the B-story actually does provide a lot of insight into Johnu0026#39;s character, though itu0026#39;s not really needed thanks to Ashtonu0026#39;s skill).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s one of those two-trains-speeding-down-the-track-rolling-right-for-each-other-type scripts (think u0026quot;No Country for Old Men,u0026quot; though not on that scale, obviously). And of course thereu0026#39;s a time bomb at the collision point, and quite a menacing one, in Ronnie Gene Blevins, who plays the dead guyu0026#39;s angry, redneck, slightly-psychotic younger brother.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt all comes together because of Ashton, however. As per usual, he conceals virtually everything heu0026#39;s feeling, but in that cunningly transparent way that lets you into his subconscious — whether you want to be there or not. He tells you everything you need to know about his life, his dead wife (who Dutch was snaking), and his sense of morality without saying much at all. Itu0026#39;s all in that face and those eyes, which have just gotten more expressive with time.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Uncle Johnu0026quot; also gets the look, feel, and cadence of rural Illinois stunningly right. The diner scenes with Johnu0026#39;s daily cronies (Don Forsten, Gary Houston, and Matt Kozlowski — all worth mentioning) are priceless and not just in non-condescending accuracy. Theyu0026#39;re a wonderful Greek chorus. And Alex Moffatu0026#39;s dry-ice deliveries recall David Spade at his sharpest.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s not a film for the impatient, but thereu0026#39;s a mother-lode of riches in that there brush fire.”