Truly Dreadful Film

People are voting emotionally.

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Don McKay is an independent drama thriller film starring Thomas Haden Church and Elisabeth Shue together with Melissa Leo,James Rebhorn,Keith David and M. Emmet Walsh.The story is about a about a man who returns to his hometown after receiving a letter from his high school sweetheart,who claims to be dying.It was written and directed by Jake Goldberger. It's been 25 years since Don McKay turned his back on his hometown, and he never imagined he would ever return. But when a letter from his former girlfriend Sonny appears in Don's mailbox, he can't resist visiting his old flame one more time, before her light disappears forever. When Don comes home and realizes that his memories of Sonny don't match up with the woman she is now, it quickly becomes apparent that he harbors a shameful secret from years gone by. Meanwhile, Sonny's doctor and caretaker don't warm quickly to the returning visitor, and a chance run-in suddenly compounds Don's buried secret.The movie had its moments, but it never manages to maintain the consistent tone so crucial if a black comedy is going to actually be funny.Greenberg's tyro script was both dark comedy and slick whodunit and he handled his material and fine cast with a deft hand that belied his freshman status.The cast did very well in this film although they weren't able to elevate it to a better film.Overall,Don McKay entertains just like any other film despite of its label as an independent film.

Unfortunately, this movie has fallen into the hand of very incapable play-writer. (Yet, at the end of the movie, Don's reply to the detective's comment of "You're crazy" : "No, I'm just lonely") does move me profoundly and make me remember this movie for the rest of my life!) The movie has good main actors and actresses, sadly they fall into the hand of a lousy director. Some of the scenes even make you feel they are performing in a comedy-film.The camera-shooting and film-editing is poor enough to be graded "C".However, this is one of the very very few bad movies that could attract me to keep on watching up to the end. Its plot is excellent in aspect of suspense and romance. And you know that the actors and actresses (they by themselves are excellent) in this movie could be spotted much more brilliant if given a better director. May be it is the reason why this movie's popularity has shot up drastically ( Up 1,303% in popularity this week according to IMDb's Moviemeter).The release of this movie has rid the opportunity for other more capable movie-makers to produce a much better version: most people, having known the plot and story, would not watch a suspense / thriller movie a second time.

Despite how weird and confusing Don Mckay, aka Moment of Truth, is, it ends up being a pretty nifty mystery. A high school janitor goes back to his hometown to be reunited with his teenage sweetheart, only to get caught up in a complicated web of extortion involving an ex-husband, an inheritance, a mysterious disease and a murder. This is a VERY BIZARRE film, a mystery during which every other minute you say, what the heck is going on, until the ending wraps it all up. It features a very strange lead character as well, who is kind of grotesque and slow witted like Sling Blade. This is a very original movie. Have some patience and sit through it and you won't be disappointed.

I went to see "Don McKay" with some friends last night; it wasn't really on my movie radar because there hasn't been a big ad campaign, but it was thoroughly entertaining! I didn't really know what to expect; it appeared to be a thriller and although I would categorize it as that, I was surprised at how funny it was.Seriously, the whole audience seemed to be caught up in the plot - the pace and the twists and turns leave you a little breathless at times, but belly-laughing as well. I'm actually considering seeing it again since it's one of those movies that you might want to re-watch and "look for clues."Thomas Haden Church is perfect as Don the lonely janitor leading a solitary mundane life, pining for his lost love. He has an expressive face that is compelling as he is in turns beguiled, curious, confused, frustrated, and desperate.Elisabeth Shue as Sunny is a complete wackadoo, I don't know how else to put it… she is manipulative to the extreme and it's entertaining to see her in action, turning on the charm and wrapping Don around her finger. She takes full advantage of Don's vulnerability; it seems at times Don is vaguely aware of being played, but is enjoying the attention of this sexy creature so much that he willingly goes along for the ride.Melissa Leo appears as Sunny's uptight and prim caregiver. If you've seen her in other films, just the sight gag of her character is amusing enough, but I daresay that she delivers some of the best lines in the film.There are several character actors whom I recognized as "that guy! I love him - he was so great in…" who fill out the cast. They may not be household names, but you've seen them countless times before. I especially liked Keith David as Otis but they all delivered solid performances.I don't want to give too much of the plot away, but suffice it to say that there is a lot of double-crossing going on. Although the viewer may be wondering what the hell is going on in the middle, everything becomes clear by the final act.