Very disappointing...

Good movie but grossly overrated

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Is this the best vehicle for Malcovitch and Thornton available to them? These guys have history, and together, maybe not the legends Pachino and Deniro, or even Stallone and Swartzeneger, but really? A Fargo wannabe, (the series, never to be compared with the feature film). This film especially lacks character depth, drama, and especially moments made to give you the little JOLT, which are so badly shot and poorly directed, they would not pass for home video. The story is interesting enough, but is destroyed in the telling. There are great writers out there as we have seen,many or mostly in series presentations. How do guys with the stature of major league stars play ball in a place like Cut Bank? No humor, no drama, nothing characters, empty as the plains and as tasty as a canola sandwich. Yuk.

A decent psychological/crime thriller that takes place in Cut Bank, Montana. Cut Bank is supposed to be a small town, although we don't see any of it except a post office and outlying junkyards. Montana generally has a bad rep, I suppose because of the good survivalists who have taken to the mountains to be "off the grid" and because of an outburst of anti-Semitism some twenty years ago.It's a mismanaged image. I spent some months working with Cheyenne and Blackfeet Indians in Lame Deer, Browning, and Billings and it's a civilized state once you get past the cowboy hats. Really. The anti-Semitic scrawls on the walls of Billings were followed by a sympathetic community response in which angry and dismissive letters were sent to the Rocky Mountain News and in some windows menorahs miraculously appeared. You can buy the NY Times at your whim.Thank you for your kind attention. And now, are there any other questions? An ambitious young man, Liam Hemsworth, is shooting a video of his pretty girl friend who is running in the Miss Cut Bank. That would be Teresa Palmer. I'd vote for her. In the background, by accident, he films two men on a highway some hundred yards away. One masked man shoots a mailman, piles the body into the mail truck and drives away. The two unseen witnesses are aghast.But the writers have gotten too clever and tried to trick the audience. Apparently both Hemsley and his girl friend are part of a staged murder and robbery. The general idea -- which is pretty turgid -- is that the mailman (the hulking, bony, aged, bitter Bruce Dern) and a mute Indian giant are all part of a plot to stage the crime and then sell the video to the media for a fortune.They might have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for the sluggish but decent Sheriff Vogel (Malkovitch) and an Ed-Gein-like recluse (Michael Stuhlbarg) who is determined to get the parcel he's been eagerly waiting for. He smells bad. He's rarely seen in public. He doesn't speak much and never blinks behind those eyeglasses, so thick that belong in the tower of a lighthouse.One by one he tracks down the criminals who are holding his parcel and -- well, he gets the information he wants. What does the parcel contain, you ask? A child's lunch box. That's all.The plot has scenes that lack any credibility. The filthy psychotic Stuhlbarg has confronted Dern in a remote house. He quietly demands his parcel. He's holding a crowbar. So what does Dern do? He starts insulting Stuhlbarg, ridiculing him. That's just one instance.The production owes something to the Coen brothers' "Fargo" and there are scenes that evoke memories of Jamie Gumm's basement in "The Silence of the Lambs." But "The Silence of the Lambs" made your hair stand on end and puckered your sphincters, and "Fargo" was an ironic delight. "Cut Bank" is not boring, and it's somewhat atmospheric, but it lacks poetry and the characterization is clumsy. What is Billy Bob Thornton's problem, for instance? The performances are uniformly good except for Liam Hemsley, who is tall and bulky and can't act. His girl friend can, and so can the other principals so that his flattened affect stands out prominently.

This film tells the story of a young man who witnesses and videos the first murder in a small town in Montana. Things spiral out of control over the next few days, and the town is never the same again."Cut Bank" is quite an interesting film, because it's a crime thriller inn a rural area, yet the viewers know the answers before the characters in the film do. It's a gripping story, and keeps me interested throughout, even though the viewers know about the young man's plot almost right from the start. I feel quite sad for the residents of the small town, as it must have been quite as shock for them. The ending also shows how life is different from city life. It's a disturbing and touching at the same time. I enjoyed watching this film.

I was attracted to this by cast. And what ? - Teresa Palmer looked gorgeous as usual, while Bruce Dern, John Malkovich and Billy Bob Thornton looked somehow older than they should. Was it intention of director, or they are really so old and slow now (maybe Bruce Dern is who is really old) ? I tend to blame director, who likely wanted them look exactly like that - old, slow, peripheral people. Then flow of highly improbable events started (spoilers on from now): Accidental shooting of shooting a man in field, then probably the stupidest part - showing that reward in post office - stupid because reward self, as is, and because it gave clue too early. After that, lame and unlikely events went throughout the end. I really don't want to go in every stupid detail, will just point on Derby Milton: how could that old, stupid and especially very slow retard overcome easily much younger people ? This is another big direction flaw in my opinion. And direction was overall just mediocre in best case. The story ? As said, highly unlikely, and far from anything original. We seen all it done much better. Finally, the message and final scene: really stupid message - leaving small provincial town is best what young people can do in their life ? Because such town is some kind of prison. Prison in heads, as was with kids on bicycles at final scene. People leaving big towns could say some words about .. Or I'm just too stupid to understand American Dream :-)