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ray mckinnon walton goggins lisa blount .
randy*«* mob
A FEEL GOOD COMEDY WITH A SOUTHERN TWIST
■ !>e*e mmm
From the Academy Award 9 winning Director of The Accountant
cim£
234 W HANCOCK AVE.
706-3S3-3343
www.ath9nnchy9.com
STARTS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19
CHECK THEATRE DIRECTORY, WEBSITE OR CALL THEATRE FOR SHOW TIMES
MICHAEL CLAYTON (R) George Clooney truly
gets better with each passing year and each
subsequent film. The eternal bachelor with the
salt-and-pepper hair is the modern Cary Grant,
a singularly charismatic actor whose charming
seducer's grin and wicked sense of humor belie
a hidden depth. In Michael Clayton, Clooney tai
lors his sleek image into Clayton's amoral duds.
Shrouded in designer mystery, Clayton is the fixer
for a top New York law
firm; he's a bagman
called on to clean
up the firm's dirtiest
messes. When lead
attorney Arthur Edens
(Tom Wilkinson, In the
Bedroom), goes off
his rocker in a deposi
tion while working on
a multibillion dollar
class action lawsuit,
Clayton is called in.
Righting such hopeless
situations is what the
charming, connected
Clayton was built for
and exactly what he
doesn't want to be
doing for the rest of
his life. Before Clayton
can accomplish his task, the lead counsel (Tilda
Swinton) for U/North, the agrochemical company
represented by Clayton's firm, has hired her own
team of cleaners to take care of the case's loose
ends, including Edens and Clayton.
Writer-director Tony Gilroy (he wrote all three
entries in the Bourne franchise) crafts a labyrin
thine legal maze that never gets so twisty the
viewer can't find his way out; Michael Clayton's
tense, assiduous, chronologically paranoid unease
effortlessly sorts itself out. In his directorial
debut, Gilroy wields an efficient control; unlike
his legal eagles, Gilroy allows few scenes to exist
solely for their billability. The presence of two
Oscar-winning directors—Steven Soderbergh and
Anthony Minghella—acting as producers, as well
as Clooney, rould have been too many cooks for
Gilroy's kitchen; fortu
nately, such an expert
cast and crew ease
rather than obfuscate
Gilroy's transition.
Clooney continues to
prove his thespian
mettle; Syriana and
Good Night, and Good
Luck were no flukes. At
46, Clooney is far from
done. Already with
one Oscar, the natural
talent is bound for
another golden statu
ette so long as he isn't
tossed into the pit of
non-recognition with
Paul Newman and any
other stellar performer
who makes acting
look too easy. Swinton is as icy cold a customer
as she was when I first saw her in Orlando.
Wilkinson remains slyly reliable, and Sydney
Pollack (himself an Oscar winner) oozes kindly,
manipulative paternalism. That Michael Clayton is
as smooth as its star should surprise no one.
Drew Wheeler
George Clooney
GOOD 01 FELLAS
RANDY AND THE MOB (PG) I've never gotten
around to watching Ray McKinnon's Academy
Award winning short film, The Accountant
(the inspiration for the Drive-By Truckers'
tune, "Sinkhole"), and after viewing the Adel,
GA native's second feature (his first feature,
Chrystal, starred Billy Bob Thornton and garnered
a Grand Jury Prize nomination at Sundance), I'm
sure I missed out. McKinnon's Randy and the Mob
has everything (down to the drawl) right about
life in a small Southern
town. Randy Pearson
(McKinnon, 0, Brother,
Where Art*Thou?,
"Deadwood"), the
entrepreneurial idiot
who owns a local truck
stop, climate-controlled
storage units, and part
of a barbecue joint,
owes the mob and the
IRS. When mob enforcer
Tino Armani (producer
Walter Goggins of
"The Shield"), sent to
town to collect money,
instead runs off with it, Randy must turn to
his flush, gay, nearly-estranged, identical twin
brother, Cecil (McKinnon again).
Randy and the Mob, written as well as directed
by McKinnon, accomplishes what so many other
films about or set in the South cannot or do
not. Made by Southerners who obviously like the
South—McKinnon and Goggins are both from
Georgia, while producer Lisa Blount, who portrays
Randy's depressed, former baton-twirling wife,
is originally from Fayetteville, AR—Randy isn't
filled with Yankee stereotypes outdated since
the 1950s nor does it look snidely down upon
the region's colorful denizens. The accents are
not exaggerated; the eccentricity is subtle rather
than broad. Cecil and his life partner, Bill (the
undervalued Tim DeKay, "Carnivale"), exist openly
within the unspoken "don't ask, don't tell" agree
ment prevalent in a small community where
everyone knows and/or is related to everyone.
Whereas so many Southern-located comedies
are deep-fried turkeys,
Randy and the Mob has
the local flavor of slow-
roasted barbecue (with
a small side of sun
baked Burt Reynolds).
Already a winner of
the Audience Choice
and President's Awards
from the Nashville Film
Festival, Randy and
the Mob deserves as
much recognition as
an independent com
edy shot on location
around the Atlanta area
by Southern filmmakers can generate. If you're
looking for laughs at the theater this weekend,
let the rest of the nation suffer through all four
quarters of The Comebacks, while you give Randy
and the Mob your money. You can thank me later.
Randy and the Mob starts this Friday at Cin§.
McKinnon will be in town to discuss his film this
weekend. Read more about him in Pub Notes on
p. 3 in this issue.
Drew Wheeler
Ray McKinnon
18 FLAGPOLE.COM OCTOBER 17. 2007 NEWS & FEATURES I ARTS & EVENTS I MOVIES I MUSIC I COMICS & ADVICE I CLASSIFIEDS